
Class 
Book 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 




JOHN QUINCY 



fs>^ 






Source-Readers in American History — No. I , 

\ 

COLONIAL CHILDREN I 



Source- Readers in American History — No. i 



COLONIAL CHILDREN 



SELECTED AND ANNOTATED BY 

ALBERT BUSHNELL HART 

Of Harvard University 
WITH THE COLLABORATION OF 

BLANCHE E. HAZARD 
Of the Rhode Island Normal School 



With Many Illustrations 





rl I 


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• 


NEW YORK 


33 3j'>' 'j^ 


THE 


MACMILLAN 


COMPANY 


LONDON : 


MACMILLAN & 


CO., Ltd. 






190a. 








yill rights reser-ved 








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THE LIBRARY OF 
CONGRESS, 

T^«o Copies Received 

JUN. ti 1902 

COPVRIQHT ENTRY 

/ &UASS <J^>VXa No. 
COPY B. 



>*^ 






Copyright, iqoj;. 
By the MACMILLAN COMPANY. 



Norwood Press 

y. S. Gushing & Co. — Berwick & Smith 

Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. 



TO 

ILittle a. anti ILittle %. 

LOVERS OF PAPA'S STORIES 
THESE VERITIES 



I 



Preface 



In the conviction that the freshest and most direct writing 
are those which most appeal to children of every age, this 
volume and its three companions have been prepared. The 
books are made up of sources, but not of sources in the garb 
of three centuries ago, unfamiliar to modern children. The 
language and spelling have been freely altered, while the 
thought has been preserved. Much has been omitted, but it 
has not been the intention to add any statement not expressed 
in the original. If children are interested in this book, it will 
be because their ancestors were interesting, and not because a 
modern mind has invented a story for them. History has been 
taken in its large sense, as a record of the life of the people, 
and hence many descriptions of manners and customs have 
been included. While long narratives in general had to be 
avoided, the lack of verse is due simply to the fact that colonial 
poetry is in general too rugged or too stupid for children, and 
cannot be modernized. In later volumes verse will appear 
more freely. 

ALBERT BUSHNELL HART. 

Cambridge, Massachusetts, 
December 19, 1900. 



Contents 



PAGE 

Introduction for Teachers ix j 

PART I ] 

Discovery of America ^ • i 

J 
i 

PART II 



1 
On the Sea '3 ^ 

PART III 
In the Wilderness 55 

PART IV j 

1 
Big Indians and Little Indians 9^ i 

PART V ; 

i 

How the Colonies grew ^33 i 

PART VI \ 

Little Folks ^^5 

PART VII I 

Colonial Schools 201 I 



IX 



INTRODUCTION FOR TEACHERS 

By Blanche E. Hazard 

The demand at the present day for reading-books 
is not like that of fifty or even fifteen years ago. 
Any collection of poetry and prose used to be thought 
adequate, if made up of words of certain brevity and 
paragraphs of appropriate choppiness about miscel- 
laneous subjects. Such a Reader was a good exercise 
book for a drill in the mechanical process of reading. 

In these days of teaching children instead of sub- 
jects, the demand is not merely for something to read, 
but for something worth reading, both for its style 
and its matter. During the last ten years various 
Readers have appeared, made up of selections which 
were good literature and at the same time suited to 
young pupils. The subject-matter of such Readers 
covers a wide range, including science, geography, 
and history, descriptions of people and the world we 
live in ; for we are teaching children to Hve and to 
be interested in the lives of others. 

Good reading-books may also be applied to the 
problems of " anticipation and correlation " in educa- 
tion ; we have come to realize that at a given age cer- 
tain faculties can be developed more advantageously 
than at other times. When the first bold pioneers of 
"anticipation" tried to urge that some subjects for- 
merly reserved for secondary schools should be taught 
in the grammar grades, there were cries of dismay 



xii Introduction 

and honest fears of a '* stuffing process " by which 
Latin and algebra were to be brought back into gram- 
mar grades, and science and history into primary 
grades. Yet many schools throughout the United 
States have proved that good teachers working with 
good tools on wise plans can perform the impossibility. 
Among the necessary tools are supplementary Readers 
so used as to correlate the work of the grades. 

For this reform it is not essential to ask faithful 
and efficient teachers to do more work, but to use ef- 
fectively their time and strength and that of their 
pupils, so that they may reach the ideals of the pres- 
ent day education. While they are teaching reading, 
they are to think of the children not only as acquiring 
a mechanical skill, but also as getting ideas about 
things in life ; hence the growing use of " nature 
readers," "history readers," and "geography read- 
ers," or as commonly termed " Supplementary Read- 
ers." The very name involves the conclusion that 
these books are helping children to a knowledge of 
subjects. 

What are the characteristics of a good modern 
reading-book.? (i) Clear thought simply expressed; 
(2) Good English; (3) Interesting pieces that will 
train in expression ; (4) Valuable matter that is worth 
remembering for its own sake. In my own work of 
teaching methods to Normal School classes in the 
Rhode Island Normal School and of supervising the 
history study in the primary and grammar grades of 
the Observation School connected with this Normal 
School I have found the system of supplementary 
readers an aid to the teacher and a stimulus to the 
pupil. In talking with young children both in and 
out of school, reading to them, hearing them read to 



Introduction xiii 

me, and listening to their unconstrained and valuable 
criticisms, I have been convinced that they can under- 
stand and enjoy proper selections from real literature. 

Colo7iial Children, like the other Readers of this 
series which are to follow, is an attempt to give good 
literature to children, and at the same time to do two 
other things : to let people of bygone days speak for 
themselves ; and to lay good foundations for accurate 
knowledge of history. Hence the sources of Ameri- 
can history have been re-examined and narratives 
have been selected which seem interesting to children, 
and simple enough in thought for them to understand. 

The stories are the same in substance as when they 
were first told, two and three centuries ago ; but their 
garb has been changed without adding a detail or 
altering a statement of fact. The spelling and phrase- 
ology of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries have 
been corrected so that the story may be easily under- 
stood by young children. Nevertheless as much of 
the quaintness of expression has been kept as was 
allowable by rules of present good usage, with due 
reference to the mental development of the pupils of 
the fourth to the sixth grade. Those children can 
now read aloud to their listening schoolmates the 
words uttered by such leaders as Governor William 
Bradford, Governor John Winthrop, John Smith, and 
William Penn, great men of action, who were also 
writers of clear thought and pure English style. 

Perhaps a proper definition of oral reading might 
be this, — getting the thought out of a writer's words, 
and then expressing it in such a way as to pass that 
thought on to others. An interest that awakens im- 
agination leads readily into an ability to get and to 
transmit another's thought. This volume should have 



xiv Introduction 

in the training of expression as much helpfulness as 
the many artificial story books, for it is full of adven- 
ture, wonderful happenings, graphic descriptions, and 
altogether delightful tales. I have seen and heard 
history stories read by children in all the grades from 
the third to the sixth ; and I have observed that even 
little children cannot help giving the right expression 
when they read of triumph or of sorrow, for their 
voices are unconsciously modulated to suit the 
thought, because the feeHngs which control the voice 
are awakened. 

Reading aloud with taste and expression is only 
part of the school training. Children must learn to 
read both to and for themselves ; to get the sense by 
the appeal of the printed page to the eye, as well as 
of the spoken words to the ear. That children do 
not acquire this power generally in the primary and 
grammar schools is known to secondary school teach- 
ers ; repeatedly in my high school classes I have 
found that reading twenty pages of a comparatively 
easy history or even of a novel, was a " time-taking 
task " without definite results in the way of securing 
the ideas. Since this power cannot be acquired 
without years of training, a beginning should be 
made in the elementary schools. There is no doubt 
that many of these stories would be most profitable 
and engrossing " seat work," a means of relaxation, 
which would not involve mischief making. 

Varying conditions in schools and courses in the 
East and in the West, and in different schools also of 
one state, prevent a general statement as to the grade 
for which this reading-book is intended. In selecting 
and revising the extracts we hoped that it might fit 
the average fifth grade, or say children ten or twelve 



Introduction xv 

years old, and my own experience and a test of many 
of the pieces show that average children of that age 
can use it pleasurably. 

The fourth requirement for a Reader is that it con- 
tain valuable subject-matter, worth remembering for 
itself : we believe that the pieces in this book not 
only cultivate the imagination and train the vocal ex- 
pression, but may aid the memory and aid the judg- 
ment so as to be an ultimate help in the study of 
history in the fifth or in higher grades. While in- 
tended primarily as a reading-book, the volume has 
been made up in accordance with the principles of 
the scientific study of history : large bodies of sources 
have been searched ; opinions have been weighed and 
balanced ; and the merits of the writers and their 
writings have been considered ; kindred subjects have 
been grouped ; chronological order and historical 
perspective have been kept in mind. If a teacher in 
the fifth grade is required to teach American history, 
in a simple though formal way, with a text-book or 
without, she will find in this book a tool adapted for 
her work. 

For example, to make real the Norsemen who 
visited our country so long ago, leaving few or no 
traces of their coming, she can turn those shadowy 
beings into seeming flesh and blood by reading the 
story of the Wineland Baby (No. i). She can be sure 
that children will remember not only the story, but 
the story-teller, when Columbus (No. 2) or Higginson 
(No. 20) tell what they saw in the New World. The 
real nature of exploration will come home to the pupils 
with force as they read about Balboa (No. 5) and 
Pizarro (No. 6) and De Soto (No. 7). A fuller ap- 
preciation of the courage of the colonists will be pos- 



xvi Introduction 

sible for the children who notice the dangers, real 
and imaginary, which were faced in the journey over 
the ocean and during the first years in the wilderness ; 
any of the selections grouped in the chapter '' On 
the Sea " and " In the Wilderness " will furnish these 
pictures. 

The volume contains some of the earliest and most 
authentic accounts of the native Indians : but it was 
not all scalping and war dances. The girls who read 
of their home-life (Nos. 33 and 34) and the true story 
of Pocahontas (No. 35) will find that the Indians can 
interest as well as frighten them ; the boys will get 
enough excitement in the stories of rescue from 
Indian captivity found in Nos. 41 and 43 ; while both 
boys and girls will find much to admire in the char- 
acter of the Indian chieftain, Passaconnaway (No. 
39). Colonies seem more real to boys and girls when 
they find that there were real children on the Virginia 
plantations and in the New England towns ; as 
"fathers" and "mothers" the parents of these 
children (read Nos. 56 and 59, 60 and 61, 65, 66, 
and 6y) become infinitely more interesting than the 
old-fashioned " colonists " could ever be. That per- 
sonal impression once gained, pupils may read Nos. 
46 to 55 about "How the Colonies Grew." That 
the accounts of the colonial schools, in the closing 
chapter of this Reader, will make the children more 
eager to go to their own schools, is, perhaps, too 
much to promise, but that all these stories wisely used 
will tend to keep this rising generation from " hating 
history " is confidently expected. 

To a sixth grade teacher, who takes up the formal 
study of American history, with a class that has be- 
come acquainted with Colonial Children during the 



Introduction xvii 

previous year, there will come a grateful appreci- 
ation of the worth of a supplementary Reader that 
gave the children something not only to read, and to 
read with expression, but to remember ; she will see 
a practical outcome of the system of ''anticipation 
and correlation," and she will be doing her share in 
working out this problem in our primary and gram- 
mar schools. 



PART I 

DISCOVERY OF AMERICA 



I, Saga of a Wineland Baby 

By Hauk Erlendsson (about iooo) 

One summer a ship came from Norway to Green- 
land. The skipper's name was Thorfinn Karlsefni, 
and he was the son of Thord called *' Horsehead," 
and a grandson of Snorri. Thorfinn Karlsefni, who 
was a very wealthy man, passed the winter there in 
Greenland, with Lief Ericsson. He very soon set his 
heart upon a maiden called Gudrid, and sought her 
hand in marriage. 

That same winter a new discussion arose concern- 
ing a Wineland voyage. The people urged Karlsefni 
to make the bold venture, so he determined to under- 
take the voyage, and gathered a company of sixty 
men and five women. He entered into an agreement 
with his shipmates that they should each share equally 
in all the spoils. They took with them all kinds of 
cattle, as they intended to settle the country if they 
could. Karlsefni asked Lief for his house in Wine- 
land. Lief replied that he would lend it but not 
give it. 



This story 
was handed 
down by tra- 
dition for 
many cen- 
turies ; but it 
describes a 
real settle- 
ment, the 
first by 
Europeans 
in America 
nine cen- 
turies ago. 



I.e. to a 
place called 
Wineland. 

Lief had 
already made 
a voyage to 
Wineland 
and built a 
house there. 



Di 



tscovery 



0^ 



Am 



erica 



[No. I 



The name of They Sailed out to sea with the ship and arrived safe 
Liefs place. ^^^ soiind at Lief's booths, and carried their hammocks 
ashore there. They were soon provided with an abun- 
dant supply of food, for a whale of good size and qual- 
ity was driven ashore and they secured it. Their cattle 
were turned out upon the land. Karlsefni ordered 
trees to be felled ; for he needed timber wherewith to 
load his ships. They gathered some of all the prod- 
ucts of the land, 
grapes, all kinds of 
game, fish, and other 
good things. 

In the summer 
after the first winter 
the Skrellings were 
discovered. A great 
throng of men came 
forth from the woods ; 
the cattle were close 
by and the bull began 
to bellow and roar 
with a great noise. 
At this the Skrellings 
were frightened and 
ran away with their 
packs, wherein were gray furs, sables, and all kinds 
of skins. They fled towards Karlsefni's dwelling and 
tried to get into the house, but Karlsefni caused the 
doors to be defended. Neither people could under- 
stand the other's language. The Skrellings put down 
their packs, then opened them and offered their wares, 
in exchange for weapons, but Karlsefni forbade his 
men to sell their weapons. He bade the women to 
carry out milk to the Skrellings ; as soon as these peo- 




A NORSE SHIP. 



The 

Skrellings 

were natives, 

probably 

Esquimaux 

or other 

northern 

tribes. 

The 

Skrellings 



No. I] A Wineland Baby 3 

pie had tasted the milk, they wanted to buy it and had neither 
nothing else. ^°^^'^ "°>" , 

■NT • . 1 111 T^ 1 r • 1 goats, so that 

Now It IS to be told that Karlsef ni caused a strong milk was a 

wooden palisade to be constructed and set up around "^^^^ \^^Mxy 
the house. It was at this time that a baby boy was 

born to Gudrid and Karlsefni and he was called Snorri. The first 

In the early part of the second winter the Skrellinsrs ^^^^^ °^ 

•^ ^ ^ European 

came to them again in greater numbers than before, race born in 
and brought with them the same kind of wares to America, 
exchange. Then said Karlsefni to the women, " Do 
ye carry out now the same thing which proved so prof- 
itable before and nothing else." The Skrellings seemed 
contented at first, but soon after, while Gudrid was sit- 
ting in the doorway beside the cradle of her infant 
son, Snorri, she heard a great crash made by one of 
the Skrellings who had tried to seize a man's weapons. 
One of Karlsefni's followers killed him for it. '' Now 
we must needs take counsel together," said Karlsefni, 
" for I beUeve they will visit us a third time in greater 
numbers. Let us now adopt this plan : when the tribe 
approaches from the forest, ten of our number shall 
go out upon the cape in front of our houses and show 
themselves there, while the remainder of our company 
shall go into the woods back of our houses and hew 
a clearing for our cattle. Then we will take our bull 
and let him go in advance of us to meet the enemy." 
The next time the Skrellings came they found Karl- 
sefni's men ready and fled helter-skelter into the woods. 
Karlsefni and his party remained there throughout 
the winter, but in the spring Karlsefni announced that 
he did not intend to remain there longer, for he wished 
to return with his wife and son to Greenland. They we do not 
now made ready for the voyage and carried away with J^"°^ "^"^^l 

•' -' o 1 1 . became of 

them much in vines and grapes and skms. these people. 



Discovery of America [no. 2 



This extract 
is part of 
Columbus's 
own account 
of his dis- 
covery of 
the new 
world. 

King P'er- 
dinand of 
Spain. 



I.e. one of 
the names 
apphed to 
Jesus Christ. 

Juana = 
Cuba. 



Cathay = 
China, which 
Columbus 
had expected 
to reach. 



Or His- 
panola, now 
San 
Domingo. 



2. Throngs of Children to see 
Columbus 

By Christopher Columbus (1492) 

Thirty-three days after my departure from 
Cadiz I reached the Indian Sea, where I discovered 
many islands which were thickly peopled. I took 
possession of these without resistance in the name 
of our most illustrious Monarch, by a public procla- 
mation and with unfurled banners. To the first of 
these islands, which is called by the Indians Guana- 
hani, I gave the name of the blessed Saviour, San 
Salvador, relying upon whose protection I had 
reached this as well as the other islands. As 
soon as we arrived at the great island, which I have 
said was named Juana, I proceeded along its coast 
a short distance westward, and found it to be so 
large and apparently without termination, that I 
could not suppose it to be an island, but the conti- 
nental province of Cathay. In the meantime I had 
learned from some Indians whom I had seized, that 
that country was certainly an island : and therefore 
I sailed towards the east, coasting to the distance of 
three hundred and twenty-two miles, which brought us 
to the extremity of it. From this point I saw lying 
eastwards another island, fifty -four miles distant from 
Juana, to which I gave the name of Espanola. All 
these islands are very beautiful ; they are filled with 
a great variety of trees of immense height which 
retain their foliage in all seasons, I beheve, for when 
I saw them they were as verdant and luxuriant as 
they usually are in Spain in the month of May. 



No. 2] Children and Columbus 



Some of them were blossoming, some bearing fruit, 
and all flourishing in the greatest perfection. Yet 
the islands are not so thickly wooded as to be impas- 
sable. The nightingale and various birds were sing- 



©ceanica 




COLUMBUS S SHIPS IN FACSIMILE. 



ing in countless numbers, and that in November, the 
month in which I arrived there. 

The inhabitants are very simple and honest, and 
exceedingly liberal with all they have ; none of them 
refusing anything he may possess when he is asked 



Discovery of America [no. 



The friendly 
people were 
soon after 
made slaves 
by the 
Spaniards, 
and in a few 
years were 
almost all 
dead from 
the cruel 
treatment of 
their masters. 



for it ; but on the contrary inviting us to ask them. 
They exhibit great love towards all others in prefer- 
ence to themselves : they also give objects of great 
value for trifles, and content themselves with very 
little in return. I, however, forbade that these trifles 
and articles of no value, such as pieces of dishes, 
plates, and glass, keys, and leather straps should be 
given to them; although if they could obtain them, 
they imagined themselves to be possessed of the 
most beautiful trinkets in the world. 

On my arrival in the new world I took some Ind- 
ians by force from the first island to which I came, 
in order that they might learn our language. These 
men are still travelling with me, and although they 
have been with us now for a long time, they continue 
to entertain the idea that I have descended from 
heaven. On our arrival at any new place they pub- 
lish this, crying out immediately with a loud voice to 
the other Indians, '' Come, come and look upon 
beings of a celestial race " : upon which both women 
and men, children and adults, young men and old, 
when they get rid of the fear they at first entertain, 
will come out in throngs, crowding the roads to see 
us, some bringing food and others drink, with aston- 
ishing affection and kindness. 



No. 3] 



Dressed in Silk 



3. A Father dressed in Silk 

By Two Italian Gentlemen (1497) 

London, 23d August, 1497. 
Our Venetian, John Cabot, who went with a small 
ship from Bristol to find new islands, has come back, 
and says that he has discovered, seven hundred leagues 
off, the mainland of the country of China. He coasted 
along it for three hundred leagues, and landed but 
did not see any people. But he has brought here to 
the king certain snares spread to take game, and a 
needle for making nets. He found some notched 
trees, from which he judged that people lived about 
there. Being in doubt, he came back to the ship. 
He had been away three months on the voyage, and, 
in returning, he saw two islands to the right ; but he 
did not wish to land, lest he should lose time, for he 
was in want of provisions. The king of this country 
has been much pleased. He has promised for an- 
other time ten armed ships such as Cabot desires, 
and has given him all the prisoners, except such as 
are confined for high treason, to go with him. The 
king has granted him money also, with which to 
amuse himself till then. Meanwhile, he is with his 
Venetian wife and his sons at Bristol. His name is 
John Cabot and he is called the Great Admiral ; 
great honor is paid to him, and he goes about dressed 
in silk. The English are ready to go with him, and 
so are many of our rascals. As discoverer of these 
things, Cabot has planted a large cross in the ground 
with a banner of England, and one of St. Mark, as 
he is a Venetian ; so that our flag has been hoisted 
very far away. 



John Cabot 
was sent out 
by Henry 
VII, King of 
England, and 
this was the 
first English 
voyage to 
America. 
A league = 
three miles. 



Henry VII 
of England. 



I.e. let Cabot 
take them 
as seamen, 
so as to 
relieve the 
overcrowded 
English 
prisons. 

Rascals = 
poor men. 

St. Mark is 
the patron 
saint of 
Venice. 



8 Discovery of America [no. 3 



It was still 
supposed 
that the coast 
of America 
was a part 
of China or 
Japan. 



These two 
letters were 
written to the 
governments 
of Venice 
and Milan. 



1 8th December, 1497. 

Perhaps amidst so many occupations of your Ex- 
cellency it will not be unwelcome to learn how the 
King of England has gained a part of Asia without 
drawing his sword. In this kingdom there is a cer- 
tain Venetian named John Cabot, of gentle disposi- 
tion, very expert in navigation, who, seeing that the 
most serene Kings of Portugal and Spain had occu- 
pied unknown islands, wished to gain new territory for 
the Enghsh king. Having obtained the king's prom- 
ise that he might have the lordship of the dominions 
which he might discover, Cabot embarked in a small 
vessel with a crew of eighteen persons, and set out 
from Bristol, a port in the western part of this king- 
dom. He wandered for a long time ; at length he 
came to land, where he hoisted the royal standard, 
and took possession for his Highness ; then, having 
obtained various proofs of his discovery, he returned. 

Since John was a foreigner and poor, he would not 
have been believed if the crew, who are nearly all 
English, and belong to Bristol, had not testified that 
what he said was the truth. This Cabot has the 
description of the world on a chart, and also on a 
solid sphere which he has made. On this he shows 
where he has been. They say that the new land is 
excellent and the climate is temperate ; they also say 
that perhaps dye-wood and silk grow there. They 
affirm that the sea is full of fish, which are taken not 
only with a net, but also with a basket, which has a 
stone fastened to it in order to keep it in the water. 
This I have heard John Cabot himself say. People 
look upon him as a prince. 




THE DEPARTURE OF COLUMBUS. 



I o Discovery of America [no. 



The first 
man to sug- 
gest the name 
of America 
was a 
German 
school- 
master whose 
name means 
"Miller of 
the Wood 
Pond." 
Really 
Americus 
Vespucius 
discovered 
very little, 
and does 
not deserve 
to have the 
continents 
named for 
him. 



The South 
Sea, which 
we call the 
Pacific 
Ocean, 
which 
washed the 
eastern 
shores of 
India and 
China, was 
what most of 
the early 
European 
explorers set 
out to find. 
Balboa, a 
Spanish 
officer, had 
heard from a 



4. The Name America 

By Hylacomylus (1507) 

And the fourth part of the world having been dis- 
covered by Americus, it may be called Amerige ; that 
is, the land of Americus or America. 

Now truly, since these regions are more widely 
explored, and another fourth part is discovered by 
Americus Vesputius, as may be learned from the fol- 
lowing letters, I do not see why any one may justly 
forbid it to be named Amerige, that is, Americ's Land, 
after Americus the discoverer, who is a man of saga- 
cious mind ; or call it America, since both Europa and 
Asia derived their names from women. 



5. How to find an Ocean 

By Antonio Herrera (1513) 

Balboa, having resolved to march over to the South 
Sea, and having provided all things necessary for it, 
set out from Darien in the beginning of September, 
1 5 1 3. He went by sea as far as the land of the Cacique 
Careta. There he left the brigantines and the canoes 
and advanced towards the mountain. Careta who was 
friendly to him commanded some of his subjects to 
attend Balboa. A neighboring Cacique, Ponca, by 
name, who had spies abroad, was informed that the 
Spaniards were coming up his mountain, and hid him- 
self in an out of the way part of his territory. Balboa 
sent some of the Careta Indians to assure him that he 
was doing no harm but would be his friend as he was 
Careta's. So Ponca came, bringing a present of gold. 



No. 5] How to find an Ocean 



1 1 



Balboa received him with much joy because he did native chief 



that there 



Cacique = 
chief. 



not wish to leave an enemy behind. He gave him an ^^^ ^ ^ 
abundance of beads, looking glasses, and some iron seaacrossthe 
axes. In return, Balboa demanded of Ponca some mountains, 
guides and men to carry burdens. The Cacique granted 
all he desired, and gave him plenty of provisions. 

Then Balboa proceeded to the top of the mountain 
whence he had been told that the other sea might be 
seen. From Ponca' s land to the top was about six 
days' journey ; but they spent twenty-five days 
because of the roughness of the land, and because 
they were short of provisions. At length they 
arrived at the top of the high mountain, on the 
twenty-fifth of September, 15 13, whence the sea 
could be seen. Balboa was given notice a little 
while before they came to the top that they were 
very near it. Commanding all to halt there, Balboa 
went up alone and saw the South Sea ; then, with 
uplifted hands and on his knees, he returned thanks 
to heaven for being the first who had seen this sea. 

After performing this act of devotion he called his 
men and repeated the same, and they followed his 
example, while the Indians stood amazed to see 
them so overjoyed. Balboa praised Camegra's son 
for giving him this news, and promised all his follow- 
ers much wealth and happiness. They all believed 
him, for he was very much beloved because he made 
no difference between himself and the common sol- 
diers. He always showed sympathy for the sick and 
wounded, every one of whom he visited and com- 
forted. He was himself undaunted in dangers, never 
showing the least fear in the greatest perils. 

Balboa next ordered that a certificate should be 
drawn of his taking possession of that sea and all 



The state of 
Castile was a 
part of 
Ferdinand's 
Spanish 
kingdom. 

We shall 
meet Pizarro 
again 
presently. 



The tide 
rose a fathom 
— that is, 
6 feet. 

Nobody then 
guessed that 
there was an 
opening 
south of 
the land, by 
which they 
could sail 
into the 
Pacific 
Ocean. 



1 2 Discovery of America [no. e 

that was in it for the Crown of Castile ; as a testi- 
mony of this he cut down trees, raised crosses and 
heaps of stones, and cut the name of the King of 
Spain on some of the trees. He then resolved to go 
down the mountains to observe what there was on 
them and on the sea-coast. He sent Captain Francis 
Pizarro to view the sea-coast and the country round 
about. John Escaray and Alonzo Martin, with twelve 
men each, he sent to find the shortest way to this sea. 
Alonzo Martin hit upon the shortest road and in 
two days came to a place where he found two canoes 
upon dry land, yet saw no sea; but whilst he was 
considering how those canoes were up on the land, 
the sea water came in and lifted them up about a 
fathom in height; for upon that coast the sea ebbs 
and flows every six hours, two or three fathoms, so 
that great ships are left dry and no sea water appears 
for half a league at least. Alonzo Martin, seeing 
the canoes begin to swim, went into one of them and 
bid his companions to bear witness that he was the 
first to enter the South Sea. Another man whose 
name was Atienza did the like and bid them bear 
witness that he was the second. They returned to 
Balboa with the news, which made them all rejoice. 



6. A Room Full of Gold 



Pizarro was 
a Spanish 
officer who 
had got per- 
mission from 



By Francisco Xeres (1533) 

Governor Pizarro received news from the natives 
that the way to Cuzco passed through very populous 
districts which were rich and fertile ; that there was 
an inhabited valley called Caxamalca ten or twelve 



No. 6] Room Full of Gold 1 3 

days' journey from the settlement where Atahuallpa, Spain to 

the greatest lord among these natives, resided, conquer the 

When Atahuallpa had come to the province of Ca- south 

xamalca years before he found it to be so rich and America 

pleasant that he settled there and continued to con- cairperu. 

quer other lands from thence. This lord was held Cuzcowas 

so much in dread, that the natives of the valley did ^l^^^^x^"" 
not dare to leave his service for the service of the 

king of Spain ; so they told the Christians and their Atahuallpa 

leader. Governor Pizarro, that a small detachment of ^^'^ ^'"^ °^ 

the natives. 

Atahuallpa s army would be sufficient to kill all the 
Christians. Governor Pizarro thereupon resolved to 
march in search of Atahuallpa to reduce him to the 
service of the king of Spain and to win over the sur- 
rounding countries. 

The Governor departed from the city of San Pizarro had 
Miguel in search of Atahuallpa on the twenty-fourth ^Jjjj'^^'^ ""^^ 
of September, 1532. He arrived at the town of horses. 
Caxamalca two months later at the hour of vespers. 
In the middle of the town there was a great open 
space surrounded by walls and houses. The Gov- 
ernor occupied this position and sent a messenger to 
Atahuallpa to announce his arrival, to arrange a 
meeting, and in order that he might show him where 
to lodge ; meanwhile he ordered the town to be 
examined with a view to discovering a strong posi- 
tion where he might pitch his camp. He ordered 
all the troops to be stationed in the open space and 
the cavalry to remain mounted until it was seen 
whether Atahuallpa would come. 

This town, which is the principal place in the val- 
ley, is situated on the edge of a mountain, with an 
open plain in front of it. Two rivers flow through 
the valley, which is level and well peopled with 



Plaza =- the 
Spanish 
name for 
public 
square. 

A pace is 
about three 
feet. 



A great 
battle be- 
tween Ata- 
huallapa's 
forces and 
Pizarro's 
took place, 
in which 
Atahuallapa 
was taken 
prisoner. 
Throughout 
his captivity 
he was kindly 
treated, but 
he felt un- 
easy about 
his safety. 



1 4 Discovery of America [no. e 

about two thousand inhabitants. Near the entrance 
there are two bridges because two rivers flow past. 
The plaza is larger than any in Spain, surrounded 
by a wall and entered by two doorways which open 
upon the streets of the town. The houses are more 
than two hundred paces in length, very well built, 
being surrounded by strong walls, three times the 
height of a man. The roofs are covered with straw 
and wood, the interiors are divided into eight rooms, 
much better than any we had seen before. Their 
walls are of well cut stones, and each lodging is sur- 
rounded by a wall of masonry with doorways, and 
has its fountain of water in an open court brought 
from a distance by pipes for the supply of the 
house. 

Atahuallapa feared that the Spaniards would kill 
him, so he told Governor Pizarro that he would give 
his captors a great quantity of gold and silver. The 
Governor asked him : '' How much can you give and 
in what time .'' " Atahuallapa said : " I will give gold 
enough to fill a room twenty-two feet long and seven- 
teen wide up to a white Hne which is half way up the 
wall. The height will be once and a half that of a 
man's stature." Atahuallapa also said, that up to that 
mark he would fill the room with different kinds of 
golden vessels, such as jars, pots, vases, besides lumps 
and other pieces. As for silver, he said that he would 
fill a whole chamber with it twice over. He under- 
took to do this in two months. Governor Pizarro told 
him to send off messengers for this purpose, and that 
when it was accomplished he need have no fear. 

Then Atahuallapa sent messages to his captains who 
were in the city of Cuzco, ordering them to send two 
thousand Indians, laden with gold and silver. After 



No. 6] Room Full of Gold 



15 



some days, several of the family of Atahuallapa arrived. 
There was his brother, who came from Cuzco, and 
sisters and wives. The brother brought many vases, 
jars, and pots of gold and much silver, and he said 
that there were more 
on the road ; but that 
as the journey was 
long, the Indians who 
were bringing the 
treasure became tired 
and could not come 
so quickly, but that 
every day more gold 
and silver would ar- 
rive. And it came. 
On some days twenty 
thousand, on others 
fifty or sixty thou- 
sand pesos of gold 
arrived. The Gov- 
ernor ordered it to 
be put in the house 
where Atahuallapa 
had his guards, and 
to be stored there 
until he had accom- 
plished what he had 
promised. 

And so the gold was delivered to the Christians by 
little and little and slowly, because it was necessary 
to employ many Indians who had to go from village 
to village to collect it. The Governor ordered the 
pieces of gold to be counted, and the gold vessels and 
plates to be melted down and weighed. It was found 




A SPANIARD IN ARMOR. 



A peso • 

dollar. 



Worth about 
$ 17,500,000 
inour money. 
The Spanish 
king de- 
manded a 
certain fixed 
share of 



treasures 
found in the 
new world. 
Having got 
the gold, 
Pizarro 
murdered 
Atahuallpa, 
and enslaved 
the people. 



1 6 Discovery of America [no. 7 

that there was over three million pesos of good gold. 
Of this, Governor Pizarro had as his share two hun- 
dred thousand pesos of gold and fifty thousand of sil- 
ver. The " royal fifth " was set aside for the Spanish 
king. All the rest was divided among all the con- 
querors who had accompanied Governor Pizarro, and 
the men who had been friendly to them during the 
expedition. Thus every one of Pizarro's helpers in 
the country received something out of this room full 
of gold. 



This is one 
of the unsuc- 
cessful 
expeditions 
made by the 
Spaniards. 
De Soto 
expected to 
find gold as 
Pizarro had 
done. 



Caravel = a 
four-masted 
ship. 



7. Buried in the Mississippi 

By A Portuguese Gentleman of Elvas (1542) 

Captain De Soto was the son of a Spanish squire. 
He went into the Spanish Indies when Peter Arias 
was governor of the West Indies There he was with- 
out anything of his own save his sword and shield. 
For his good qualities and valor, Peter Arias made 
him captain of a troop of horsemen, and by his own 
command De Soto went with Fernando Pizarro to the 
conquest of Peru. Afterwards the Spanish Emperor 
made him governor of the Isle of Cuba and President 
of Florida, with the title of Marquis over a certain 
part of the lands which he might conquer. 

On Sunday, the eighteenth day of May, in the 
year 1539, President De Soto departed from Havana 
in Cuba with his fleet, which consisted of nine vessels, 
five great ships, two caravels and two brigantines. 
They sailed for seven days with a prosperous wind. 
On Friday they landed on the western coast of Florida. 

De Soto left Captain Caldero there with thirty 
horsemen and seventy footmen with provisions for 



No. 7] In the Mississippi 17 

two years. Then he himself with all the rest of his 
men marched into the mainland in search of the 
''Great River"; and after many adventures they 
found the river ; but the natives were hostile and the 
country was poor. 

After many weary and dangerous marches, the 
governor fell into great dumps to see how hard it 
was to get down the Mississippi to the sea. It 
seemed even worse, because the number of his men 
and horses was every day diminished, as they could 
not find enough food to sustain them in this country. 
Discouraged by that thought De Soto fell sick. 
Before he took his bed, he sent an Indian to the 
cacique at Quigalta to tell him that he, Fernando 
De Soto, was the Child of the Sun, and that all the 
way on his journey thither, all men had obeyed and 
served him ; that he requested him to accept of his 
friendship, and come to him, for he should be very 
glad to see him ; and in sign of love and obedience to 
bring something with him of that which in his coun- 
try was most prized. The cacique answered by the 
same Indian, saying that whereas De Soto said that 
he was the Child of the Sun, if he would dry up the 
Great River he would believe him ; and touching the 
rest, that he was wont to visit none ; but rather that 
all those of whom he had notice did visit him, served, 
obeyed, and paid him tributes willingly or perforce. 
Therefore, if De Soto desired to see him, it were best 
he should come to his place. That if he came in 
peace, he would receive him with special good will. 
Or if De Soto came in war, even then the chief told 
him to come and find the Indians in the town where 
they were, adding, that for De Soto or any other per- 
son he would not shrink one foot back. 



1 8 Discovery of America [no. 7 

By the time the Indian returned with this answer, 
the governor had betaken himself to bed, very ill 
with fever and much grieved that he was not able to 
pass over the river and seek this cacique to see if he 
could lessen that pride of his. But the current of 
the river was very strong in those parts, where it was 

A mile and a nearly half a league broad and sixteen fathoms deep. 

half wide and Q^ \iQ\^ sidcs there were many Indians, and his 

a hundred ,1/1,1 1 i 1 

feet deep. powcr was not now SO great but that he had need 
to help himself when he could by flight rather than 
by force. 

Before he could do either, on the twenty-first of 
May, in the year 1 542, Don Fernando De Soto, the 
valorous, virtuous, and valiant captain, Governor of 
Cuba, and President of Florida, departed out of this 
life. He departed in such a place and at such a 
time that during his sickness he had had but little 
comfort, and the danger wherein all his people found 
themselves of perishing in that strange country, is 
the reason why they did not visit nor stay with him 
as they ought to have done. 
Next in com- Luys de Moscoso determined to conceal this death 
mandmthe fj-Qm the Indians because Fernando De Soto had 
made them believe that the Christians were immortal ; 
and, since they had considered him to be hardy, wise, 
and valiant, Moscoso feared that if they should know 
that he was dead they would be bold to set upon the 
Christians, even if the Spaniards tried to live peace- 
ably among them. 

As soon as De Soto was dead, therefore, Luys de 
Moscoso commanded the men to put him in a house 
secretly. Here he remained for three days. Re- 
moving him thence, Moscoso commanded them to 
bury him in the night at one of the gates of the town 



expedition. 



No. 7] In the Mississippi 



19 



just within the wall. As the Indians had seen 
De Soto sick and had missed him, they suspected 
what had happened. Passing by the place where he 
was buried and seeing the earth disturbed, they 
looked and spoke one to another. Luys de Moscoso, 
understanding it, gave the order that De Soto should 
be taken up by night and a great deal of sand cast 
into the mantles wherein he was wrapped. Then 
De Soto was carried in a canoe and thrown into the 
midst of the Great River. 

The cacique of Guachaya inquired for him, de- 
manding what was become of his brother, the gov- 
ernor. Luys de Moscoso told him that he had gone 
to heaven as he had many other times, and because 
he was to stay there certain days, he had left him in 
his place. 

The cacique still thought that the governor was 
dead, and commanded two young and well propor- 
tioned Indians to be brought thither, praying Luys 
to command them to be beheaded that they might 
attend and serve his lord and brother after his death. 
Luys told him that the governor was not dead but 
had gone to heaven and that he had taken such of 
his own Christian soldiers as he needed away with 
him ; but the Indians believed nothing of what he 
said. 



A small rem- 
nant of the 
proud expe- 
dition at last 
escaped to 
the sea. 
Neither De 
Soto's pride 
nor Mos- 
coso's lies 
helped them. 



2 o Discovery of America [no. s 



That is, of 
two ports of 
the northern 
lands visited 
by English 
explorers. 



The Esqui- 
maux still 
wear such 
garments. 



8. Esquimaux Foot-ball 

By Richard Hakluyt (about 1590) 

I FIND that in the manner of living the people of 
the northeast and those of the northwest are aUke. 
They have an olive complexion, — are very active 
and nimble men, — and are a strong, warlike people ; 
for even in our sight on the tops of the hills they 




ESQUIMAUX CHILDREN. 

would muster themselves, and in a mimic skirmish 
scamper over the ground very nimbly. They man- 
age their bows and arrows with great dexterity. 

They go about clad in skins of beasts such as 
seals, deer, bears, foxes, and hares. They have 
also some garments of feathers, finely sewed and 



No. 8] Esquimaux Foot-ball 2 1 

fastened together. In summer they wear the hairy- 
side of the skins outward, and in winter they wear 
four or five thicknesses with the hairy sides turned 
inward. 

These people are by nature subtle and sharp-witted, 
ready to understand our meaning by signs and make 
answers that can be well understood. If they have 
not seen the thing whereof we ask, they will wink or 
cover their eyes with their hands as if to say it had 
been hid from sight. If they do not understand what 
you ask thern, they will stop their ears. They are 
willing to teach us the names of anything in their 
language which we desire to know, and are quick to 
learn anything of us. They delight in music and 
will keep time and stroke to any tune which we may 
sing, both with their voice, head, hands, and feet, 
and will sing the same tune after us. 

They live in caves in the earth and hunt for their 
dinners just as the bears and other wild beasts do. 
They eat raw flesh and fish. 

On the twenty-first of August the captain of our 
ship sent a boat on shore for wood with six of our 
men who had friendly dealings with these Esquimaux. 
After that, they beckoned us on shore several times 
to play foot-ball with them, and some of our company 
went on shore to play with them ; but nimble as they 
were, as often as they struck at the ball our men won 
the game. 




A SHIP AT SEA. 



PART II 

ON THE SEA 



g. The Joke of the Pilot's Boy 

By Francis Pretty (1578) 

From thence we went to a certain port called Although 

Tarapaca, where we landed and found by the seaside ^"a^rm^f^ 

a Spaniard lying asleep. Beside him there lay thir- at war with 

teen bars of silver, which we took, leaving the man. Spain, sir 

Not far from thence we went on land for fresh ^i-ake made 

water, and met a Spaniard and an Indian boy driving a voyage 

eight lamas, or Peruvian sheep, which were as big ^^^^ ^^^-^^ 

as donkeys ; each one of these sheep had on his back the years 

two bags of leather, each bag containing fifty pounds ^J'^^l~^^^°' 

of fine silver. So we brought both the sheep and purpose of 

their burden to the ship and found we had obtained capturing 

eight hundred weight of fine silver. vessels and 

From here we sailed to a place called Arica. towns; and 

When we entered port we found three small brigs EHzabeth 

which we rifled, and found in one of them fifty-seven refused to 

wedges of silver, each of them weighing about twenty E""^^^ ^^^' 

pounds weight. In these brigs we did not find a Spaniards 

single person, for all had gone ashore to the town, had never 

which consisted of about twenty houses. If our an enemy in 

company had been larger we would have rifled the the Pacific 

23 



24 



On the Sea 



[No. 9 



Ocean. 
The places 
mentioned 
here are on 
the west coast 
of South 
America. 



It is plain 
that Drake 
was little 
better than 
a common 
pirate, 
robbing 
innocent 
people right 
and left. 



Ordnance = 
cannon. 



town, but our general contented himself with the 
spoils of the ships, put off to sea again, and set sail 
for Lima. 

To Lima we came on the thirteenth of February, and 
entering port, we found there about twelve ships lying 
fast moored to their anchors, their sails having been 
carried on shore. Their captains and the merchants 
felt most secure here, never having been assaulted 
by the negroes. Our general rifled these ships and 
found in one of them a chest full of plate and good 
store of silks and linen cloth. This chest he took to 
his own ship. While he was on board this ship he 
got news of another ship, called the Spitfire^ laden 
with treasure : hereupon we stayed there no longer, 
but cutting all the cables of the enemies' ships in the 
haven, we left them drift whither they would, either 
to sea or to shore, and with all speed we followed 
the Spitfire towards Paita. Before we arrived there, 
the Spaniards shot out again towards Panama. Our 
general speedily pursued. But we met a brig laden 
with ropes and tackling ; we boarded and searched it 
until we found a quantity of gold and golden cruci- 
fixes set with large emeralds. 

Thence we departed, still following the Spitfire, 
and our general promised the company that whoso- 
ever should first descry her should have his reward 
of gold for his good news. It happened that John 
Drake, going up to the top, descried her at about 
three o'clock. About six o'clock we came to her, 
shot at her with three pieces of ordnance, and struck 
down her mizzenmast. Next we entered the boat 
and found in her great riches, such as jewels, pre- 
cious stones, thirteen chests of fine plate, four-score 
pound weight of gold, and twenty-six tons of silver. 



No. lo] Sir Francis Drake 25 

The place where we took this prize was called Cape Not San 
de San Francisco, about one hundred and fifty leagues ^''^"^'^^°' 

y o California; 

from Panama. though 

The name of the pilot of this ship was Francisco. Drake went 
He owned two fair gilt bowls of silver which our siffnor = the 
General found, and said : *' Signor Pilot, you have Spanish 
here two silver cups, I must needs have one of them, word for sir. 
The pilot, because he could not choose otherwise, 
yielded, giving one to the General and the other to The General 
the steward of our ship. When the pilot left us, his ^^'' ^'^^^ 
boy said to our General : ** Captain, our ship shall be 
called no more the Spitfire, but the Spittreasure, and 
your ship shall be called the Spitfire." This bright 
speech of the pilot's boy made us all laugh, both then 
and long after. 



10. Far, Far at Sea 

By the Rev. Francis Higginson (1629) Higginson 

called this 

The names of the five ships were as follows : — "^J"^^'^^ 
The first was called the Talbot, a good and strong story of the 
ship of three hundred tons and nineteen pieces of voyage to 
ordnance, with a crew of thirty mariners. This ship land, made 
carried more than a hundred planters, six goats, five during the 
great pieces of ordnance, with all manner of ammuni- Begun"on^^' 
tion and provisions for the Plantation for a twelfth- the 25th of 
month. ^P"'- ^^^9." 

The second ship was called the George. This Planters = 
also was a strong ship of about three hundred tons, ^^"'^^s. 
with a crew of thirty mariners. Her general cargo Plantation = 
was of cattle, twelve mares, thirty cows, and some ^^"''^"lent or 

colony. 

goats. She had fifty-two planters on board. 



26 



On the Sea 



[No. lo 



This is not 
the cele- 
brated 



The third ship was called the Lion's Whelp, and 
was a nimble ship of one hundred and twenty-two 
tons, carrying many mariners and over forty planters 
with provisions. 

The fourth ship was called the Four Sisters. 

The fifth ship was called the Mayflower. This did 
carry both passengers and provisions. 




voyage of the 
Mayflower 
to Plymouth ; 
that iiad 
been nine 
years earlier. 

Gravesend, 
at the mouth 
of the 



A SHIP AMONG FLYING FISH. 

The George having some special urgent reasons for 
hastening her passage set sail before the rest, about 
the middle of April. We who took ship in the Tal- 
bot and the Lion's Whelp hoisted sail from Graves- 
end on Saturday, the 25th of April. On Tuesday, 
a week later, we entered the channel early in the 
morning, and passed by Portsmouth very slowly for 



No. lo] An Emigrant 2 7 

the wind was weak and calm. In the afternoon the Thames, 
wind slackened and we were forced to anchor, a Httle ^^^^Y 

' London. It 

this side of Cowes Castle, where I and my wife and often took a 
daughter Mary, the two mates, i^nd some others with sailing vessel 
us obtained leave from the master of the ship to go around the^^ 
ashore to wash our linen, but the wind turning when south of 
we were absent, they hoisted sail and left us there at "^ ^" * 

Cowes. English 

Wednesday, early in the morning a shallop was Channel. 
sent from the ship to fetch us to Yarmouth, but the i^ie of' 
weather proved rough and our women desired to Wight. 
be set on shore at a point three miles short of Yar- shallop := a 
mouth, and the rest of the way we went on foot, and ^°^* ^'^"^"^oMi 

' . -^ , ' a mast. 

then regained the ship. The next Sabbath being the 

first Lord's Day on which we had been at sea we 

were disturbed in our morning services by the charge 

of a man-of-war. The captain of this ship finding us Of course a 

too strong for him durst not venture to assail us, but ^°stiie 

made off. 

This day, my two children, Samuel and Mary, Smaii-pox 
began to be sick of the small pox, which was brou2:ht ^^^ ^^""^ , 

° r > & common and 

into the ship by one Mr. Brown who was sick with very dan- 
the small pox at Gravesend. By Tuesday, towards g^roustiii 

^ -' •' vaccmation 

night, my daughter grew sicker. She died by five came about 
o'clock that night, and was the first of our ship to be ^ century 
buried in the great Atlantic Sea. By the following 
Saturday we were comforted with the hope that my 
son Samuel would get well. One morning while we 
were at prayers, a strong sudden blast of wind came 
from the south, stirred up the waves and tossed us 
more than ever before. Towards night the wind 
abated by little and little until it was calm. Mr. 
Goffe's great dog, that fell overboard during the gale, 
could not be recovered. ' 



28 



On the Sea 



[No. II 



Sixty days ! 
The fastest 
steamers now 
cross the 
same 

distance in 
six days. 
Cape Sable, 
near New- 
foundland. 
These " gilly- 
flowers " 
were an ordi- 
nary species 
of marine 
flower. 



On Wednesday, just two months after we left our 
English port, we had a clear sight of America, and 
of Cape Sable which was seven or eight leagues to the 
south. On the sea about us we saw yellow gilly- 
flowers. About the g.fternoon of the next day we had 
a clear sight of many islands and hills by the seashore. 
We saw an abundance of mackerel, and a great store 
of whales puffing up water as they went by our ship. 
Their enormous size astonished those of us who had 
not seen them before ; their backs appeared Hke 
small islands. 

Friday, after the fog cleared, we saw many schools 
of mackerel on every side of our ship. The sea was 
abundantly stored with rock-weed and yellow flowers. 
By noon we were within three leagues of Cape Ann ; 
and as we sailed along the coast we saw every hill 
and dale and every island full of great woods and 
high trees. The nearer we came to the shore the 
more flowers we saw, sometimes scattered abroad, 
sometimes joined in sheets nine or ten yards long. 
Towards night, we came near the harbor of Salem, 
whither we were bound. 



1 1. The Ship and the Indians 

By Edward Johnston (1628) 



The Massa- 
chusetts 
settlement 



The whole Indian nation of Massachusets was 
frightened at a ship that arrived in the bay, for they 
was made by had ucver sccu ouc before. They themselves report 
a rich cor- '^^^^ when somc Indians saw a great thing moving 
toward them upon the waters, wondering what crea- 
ture it could be, they ran with their light canoes from 



poration, 
which could 
send over 



No. II] 



India7i Visitors 



29 



place to place, and stirred up all their countrymen to hundreds of 

come forth and behold th^s monstrous thing. At this p^^p^^ ^t a 

sudden news the shores for many miles were filled 

with the people of this unclothed nation. They gazed 

at this wonder till some of the bravest among them Birch bark 

manned their canoes. canoes, 

fastened 




INDIANS CANOEING. 



Armed with bows and arrows, they approached together 
within bow shot of the ship, and let fly their long ^;'^hhr°°'' 
arrows at her. These were headed with bone and cedar trees, 
some stuck fast in the wood. Others dropped into 
the water. The Indians wondered that the ship did 
not cry out, but kept moving quietly on toward them, 



30 



On the Sea [no. 12 



and that its passengers made no defence. All of a 
sudden the master caused a cannon to be fired. This 
struck such fear into the poQr Indians that they hur- 
ried to shore, and their wonder was greatly increased. 

Once again the great crowd of Indians waited with 
amazement to see the outcome. The seamen furled 
up their sails and came to ai^chor, then manned their 
long boat, and went ashore. At their approach most 
of the Indians fled, but some saw that the newcomers 
were men, who made signs to stop their flight, in order 
that they might trade with the natives. For that pur- 
pose the newcomers had brought some copper kettles, 
and the Indians by degrees made their approach nearer 
and nearer. 

Then they saw clearly the kettles which had been 
set forth before them. The Indians knocked on them 
and were much delighted with the sound. They were 
much more astonished to see that they would not 
break, although they were so thin. 

To obtain those kettles the Indians brought the 
white men many beaver skins. They loaded the 
strangers richly according to their wishes. 



12. The Ship in the Air 

This won- Over the harbor of New Haven appeared, in the 

derfui evening,, the form of a ship with three masts. Sud- 

Xrprobabiy dculy all the tackling and sails were to be seen, 
a mirage, or Shortly after, upon the ship there appeared a man, 
ITry^distant Standing with one arm akimbo under his left side ; 
ship. and holding in his right hand a sword stretched out 

towards the sea. 



No. 12] Ship in Air 3 i 

Then from the side of the ship which was toward 
the town arose a great smoke, which covered all the 
ship ; and in that smoke she vanished away. But 
some saw her keel suik into the water. This was 
seen by many men, women, and children, and it 
lasted about a quarter of an hour. 

The unhappy mourners of relatives lost in a ship 
nearly two years before, tried to find some connection 
between the ship in the air and their own sufferings. 
In the gloomy and sad state of their minds they tried 
to find some meaning in the strange appearance. 

There are many accounts of this air-ship. One 
says : " After the failure of news of their ship from 
England, prayers, both public and private, were of- 
fered by the distressed people. They prayed that 
the Lord would, if it was His pleasure, let them hear 
what He had done with their dear friends, and that 
He would help them to bow humbly to His holy will. 

"Then a great thunder storm arose out of the north- 
west, and a ship was seen sailing against the wind. 
The very children cried out, ' There's a brave ship.' 
The air-ship remained before their eyes and came up 
as far as there was water for such a vessel. It came 
so near to some persons, that they thought a man 
might throw a stone on board her." 

The people were so sure and satisfied that they 
had seen the ship that they believed that God, for 
the quieting of their troubled hearts, had been willing 
to send this wonderful ship to tell of what He had 
done to those for whom so many prayers had been 
made. 



3 2 On the Se(i [no. 13 

\ 

13. Treasure at the Bottom of 
the Sea 

By Cotton Mather (1692) 

Phipswasa Captain William Phips frequently told his wife 
Massachu- ^j^^^ ]^g would vet be captain of a kin2;'s ship, and 

setts trader. , , , ^ ^{ , ^ ^ r • , • 1 , • 

that he should be the owner of a fair brick house m 
the green land north of Boston. One year Captain 
Now Buenos Phips arrived with a ship and a tender at Port de la 
Ayres. Platta. There he made a stout canoe of a stately 

cotton tree, large enough to carry eight or ten per- 
sons. In doing this he used his own hand and adze 
and endured no little hardship, living out of doors 
Cotton in the woods many nights together. With this canoe 

Mather was j^g \^^^ j^jg men explore the reefs of shoals thereabouts 
greatest New f o^ they risc to within two or three feet of the surface 
England of the sea, and are so steep that a ship striking on them 
mmis ers. would immediately sink. Captain Phips had dragged 
from an old Spaniard in a previous voyage a few 
facts about this spot, which was supposed to be the 
very spot where a wreck lay. This wreck was sup- 
posed to hold a great treasure. 

One day after the men in the canoe were returning 
to Captain Phips and his large boat with bad news 
about their day's search, one of the men, looking over 
the side of the canoe into the calm water, spied a sea 
feather growing, as he judged, out of a rock. He 
bade one of the Indians to dive down and fetch this 
feather that they might carry home something with 
them. The diver who brought up the feather 
brought also a surprising story. He said that he 
saw a number of great guns down in the watery land 



No. 13] P hips' s Treasure 3 3 

where he found the feather. That report of these 
guns astonished the whole company exceedmgly, and 
at once turned their discouragement for their ill-suc- 
cess into assurances that they had now come to the 
true spot of ground for which they had been looking. 

Upon further diving the Indian fetched up a lump ^looo to 
of silver worth perhaps two or three hundred pounds. *^soo- 
They prudently marked the spot with a buoy, that 
they might find it readily again. Then they went 
back to their captain, who for some time had de- 
spaired of anything but bad news. They gave a 
similar report now, meanwhile slipping the lump of 
silver under the table where the captain was sitting. 
After hearing him express his determination to wait 
patiently they pushed the lump to the spot where he 
was, then he cried out : ** Why, what is this .'' " With 
changed countenances the men told him how and 
where they had got it. Then said Captain Phips : 
" Thanks be to God. We are made." 

So away they went, all hands to work. Now most This find was 
happily they first fell upon that ruined wreck where ^^JIJjq^^"^ 
the buUion had been stored, and they prospered so in dollars, 
this '' New Fishery " that in a Httle while they brought 
up thirty-two tons of silver ; for now it had come to 
measuring silver by tons. 

Thus once again there came into the light of the For this feat 
sun a treasure which had been groaning under the ^^'p^ .^^^^ 
waters for half a hundred years. In this time there wiiiiam 
had sfrown upon the plate a crust like Hmestone seven ^^^p^" ^^ 

,,.-.-r^.r ,.. iMi r the king of 

mches thick. Besides this incredible treasure ot England, 
plate in various forms, they fetched up from seven 
or eight fathoms of water vast riches of gold, pearls 
and jewels. 



34 



On the Sea 



[No. 14 



Pirates or 
sea-robbers 
were the 
curse of their 
times; and 
there are still 
some of them 
in the seas 
east of Asia. 
Many good 
ships were 
destroyed 
by them, and 
thousands of 
people 
killed, for 
the small 
gain to be 
had from 
plundering 
vessels and 
passengers 
of their 
valuables. 
Sometimes 
they landed 
and sacked 
towns. 
This does 
not seem 
very likely, 
— many 
times they 
fought with 
each other. 

New Spain 
= the 
Spanish 
possessions 
in the new 
world. 



14. A Pirate's Pastimes 

By ESQUEMELIN (1666) 

Before the pirates go to sea, they give notice to 
all concerned of the day on which they are to sail. 
They obHge each man to bring so many pounds of 
powder and gunballs. When all have come aboard 
they decide where to get food, especially meat ; for 
they eat scarcely anything else. 

Sometimes they rob such and such hog-yards, 
where the Spaniards often have a thousand hogs 
together. They come to these places in the night. 
They surround the keeper's house and force him to get 
up and give them as many hogs as they wish to have. 
They threaten to kill him if he will not obey or if 
he makes any noise. When they have meat enough 
for their trip they return to their ship. When well 
supplied with food, they begin to plan where they 
will go to seek their fortunes. 

These pirates keep very good order among them- 
selves. They are very polite and kind to each other, 
so that if any one wants what another has, he very 
willingly gives it to him. 

There was one noted pirate who lived afterwards 
at Jamaica. He did many surprising things. His 
real name was not known. His companions called 
him Rache Brasiliano because he had long lived in 
Brazil. He joined the pirates and was liked so much 
that they made him captain. In a few days he took a 
great ship coming from New Spain. It had a great 
quantity of gold and silver on board which he carried 
to Jamaica. 

For this the pirates thought very highly of him. 



No. 14] 



A Pirate 



35 



But in his private affairs he governed himself very 
poorly. He would sometimes appear brutal and 
foolish when in drink, running up and down the 
streets and beating or injuring those he met. No 
person dared to oppose him. 

Once while on a journey with his men, all were 
very hungry and thirsty ; for it was a desert place. 




FREEBOOTERS' PASTIMES. 



They were chased by a troop of a hundred Span- 
iards. Brasiliano seeing their danger encouraged his 
companions by telHng them that they were better 
soldiers than the Spaniards and ought, at least, to 
die with their arms in their hands fighting, like men 
of courage. That, he said, would be better than to 
surrender to the Spaniards who would take away 
their lives with torments. 



36 



On the Sea [no. 14 



The pirates were but thirty in number, yet seeing 
their brave captain show such courage they resolved 
to do the same. So they faced the troop of Span- 
iards, and discharged their guns at them so well that 
they killed one horseman with almost every shot. 
The fight lasted an hour ; then the Spaniards were 
put to flight. The pirates took from the dead what 
was most useful. 

Captain Henry Morgan was another noted pirate. 
He was born in England. His father was a rich 
farmer of good rank. When Morgan was young he 
had no wish to be a farmer. So he left his own coun- 
try, and found two pirates ready to go to sea ; and he 
went with them. He learned their manner of living 
so exactly that he became in time a pirate captain. 
On the island Finally he had twelve ships with seven hundred 
of San fiprhtins: men. They decided to attack the town of 

Domingo. ^i-r^-.-r 

To be Puerto de Prmcipe. It was at a distance from the 

attacked by gea, and had never been plundered by any pirates 
eia^cTiy Uke ^"^^ they knew that the people living there were rich, 
being Captain Morgan and his men set sail, steering 

horde o^f^^^ towards Puerto de Principe. When they came into 
furious wild its bay, a Spaniard who was a prisoner aboard the 
beasts, pirate ships swam ashore by night to the town and 

no wild told its people of the plan of the pirates. This he 

animals i^a,d overhcard in their talk while they thought he 

cruel ashmen, did not Understand EngHsh. Upon hearing this the 
Spaniards began to hide their riches and carry away 
their movables. 

The governor gathered together all the men of the 
town and took a stand where the pirates would be 
obliged to pass. He commanded many trees to be 
cut down and laid across their path to hinder their 
passing, when the pirates arrived. The Spaniards 



No. 14] A Pirate 37 

charged them very bravely for a while, but the pirates 
were very skilful with their guns. The governor with 
many of his companions was killed, and the Span- 
iards fled into the woods to save themselves. But 
before they could reach it, most of them were killed 
by the pirates. 

Many people upon seeing the pirates in the town, 
shut themselves up in their houses, and from them 
shot at the pirates. The pirates then threatened 
them saying, — "If you do not give up willingly you 
shall soon see the town in flames. Your wives and 
children also will be killed before your faces." 

At these threats the Spaniards surrendered. As The pirates 
soon as the pirates got possession of the town, they ^°i^.^^^ 
shut up all the men, women and children and slaves booty, but 
in several churches. They stole everything they at a later 
could find. They also searched the country round another 
about, bringing in daily many goods and prisoners Spanish 

and much food. Morgan and 

Then they had a merry time as is their way. his followers 

They did not remember the poor prisoners, but gave ^^^^^e^^^*^"^ 

them nothing to eat so that nearly all died of their Spaniards, 
misery. 



38 



On the Sea 



[No. 15 



This is one 
of the boldest 
defences 
known in 
American 
history. A 
privateer 
was a vessel 
authorized to 
capture an 
enemy's 
property, but 
the priva- 
teersmen 
often were 
little better 
than pirates, 
as in this case. 



15. The Privateers' Attack 

By John Fontaine (1708) 

With a constant apprehension of attack before 
us, we lived on the qid vive from the first day of 
June, 1704, until the eighth day of October, 1708, 
when, with all our precautions, we were actually 
taken by surprise. 

A French privateer entered the harbor during the 
night, and anchored off Bear Haven, about five miles 
from my house, and entirely out of our sight. She 
hoisted EngHsh colors by way of deception. She suc- 
ceeded in her wish, for the officer no sooner dis- 
covered her, than he concluded she was a vessel just 
arrived from America, and went down with two or 
three soldiers of his company. 

He was in great haste to be the first to board her, 
in order to regale himself with rum punch, a beverage 
of which he was unhappily much too fond. He was 
made a prisoner the instant his foot touched the deck 
of the vessel, but the captain and the officers behaved 
towards him with the greatest civility. 

He was a little shocked at first, but they made him 
so very welcome, treating him to the best of wine 
and brandy, that he soon lost the remembrance of 
his situation. He gave the captain all the informa- 
tion he wanted, and it was of a nature to encourage 
him to proceed. He told him that the soldiers were 
dispersed without any commander, for the captain 
and lieutenant were both absent, as well as himself. 
He was sure it would be very easy to surprise my 
house, for I had no one near enough to help me but 
my own family. Upon the strength of this informa- 



No. 15] 



A Privateer 



39 



tion, the captain prepared for going ashore, and 
sent eighty men in three boats, commanded by two 
lieutenants. 

They quitted the ship at midnight, and landed be- 
fore it was light. They commenced their march about 
daybreak, in perfect silence, and stooping very low, 
in order that they might be neither seen nor heard. 
An Irish servant who was fetching home the cows 
was the first person to discover them, marching in 
good order, and only the distance of a long musket 
shot from the house. He ran home as fast as he 
could, and cried out that we were all lost, for a number 
of armed men were 
in sight. 

We got up di- 
rectly, and I ordered 
every door to be 
shut, but there was 
so much confusion 
that the gates of the 
large court in front, 
and even the house 
door below the tower 
were forgotten and 
left open for some 
time. This was per- 
ceived by the enemy 
as we afterwards 
learned ; but it was 
supposed to have 
been done on pur- 
pose as a feint, and 
that we must have a 
loaded cannon with- 




PORTRAIT OF A PIRATE. 



40 On the Sea [no. 15 

in ready to fire if any one approached. When the 
men were near enough to hear me, I hailed them 
through a speaking-trumpet. I told them if they 
were friends to stop, and let us know who they were, 
and if enemies, to come forward, and we would re- 
ceive them with vigor. 

In the meantime my children were busily engaged 
loading our arms and putting them in order. The 
men continued to advance. I ordered my son James 
to fire upon them from a garret window with our 
largest gun, which was six feet long. This made 
them lower their heads ; they then separated into six 
detachments and took various posts. Some of them, 
under cover of hedges and ditches, contrived to get 
round to the back of the house. They had deter- 
mined to root us out this time, for their first act was 
to set fire to the malt-house, which was towards the 
east, then to the stacks of hay, straw and grain which 
were at the north and east, and after that to the cow- 
house, stable, and long fish-press which were at the 
west of my house. 

These were all very combustible. In less than 
half an hour we were encompassed with flames on 
every side but one. By reason of the fire and smoke 
between them and us, we were unable to see our 
enemies, and we suffered much from the smoke, 
which found its way to us through every crevice. 

I ordered the servants to put water in every tub 
and bucket that could be found, and then immerse 
sheep-skins with wool upon them, and ox-skins, of 
both which we had many in the house. When these 
were thoroughly saturated I had them placed in the 
windows, as being the most exposed parts of the 
house, My dear wife superintended these arrange- 



No. 15] ^ Privateer /\. i 

ments. The roof was slated, so there appeared but 
Httle danger of fire being communicated to us through 
that channel. 

The whole garrison consisted of my wife and my- 
self, our children and four servants. Two of the 
latter were mere cowboys, and the other two had 
never seen a battle. We fired hap-hazard, as fast as 
we could load. We did so, because we could actually 
see nothing but fire and smoke, and therefore could 
not aim at our enemies. 

My chief apprehension arose from the fear that 
they might possess themselves of our cannon and 
turn them against ourselves. Therefore I thought 
that while unable to see what our assailants were 
doing, I could not employ myself better than in firing 
my large blunderbuss every few minutes in the direc- 
tion of the cannon. 

While I was firing at random, I had a glimpse of a 
man setting fire to the covering of the fish-press. I 
took deliberate aim at him with my blunderbuss, loaded 
as usual with swan-shot, and wounded him in several 
places, but not seriously. 

While we were bhnded and suffocated by the smoke 
from the burning stacks, our adversaries raised a small 
mound of turf and wood, behind which they intrenched 
themselves. They set to work with long poles to 
detach the slates from the roof of the north-east tower. 
As soon as they uncovered a portion, they applied fire 
to it, by means of burning straw at the end of their 
poles, and in this way the roof was on fire three times, 
and we as often extinguished it from within. 



4-2 On the Sea [no. i6 

1 6. How the Boys fought the 
Privateersmen 

By John Fontaine (1708) 

About two o'clock in the afternoon, they accom- 
pHshed making a breach in the wall of this same north- 
east tower. We could see them at work with iron 
bars. While they were so engaged my children fired 
upon them. They formed a sort of rampart with a 
mattress on the top of a large basket, such as is used 
in the country for carrying peat. They knelt behind 
this rampart, and fired as fast as they could one after 
the other, without daring to show their noses. 

The enemy still continued at work with their long 
poles and firebrands endeavoring to set the roof on 
fire. When the smoke had subsided a little, I hit upon 
a position from which I could see to take aim at their 
hands, as they raised them above their intrenchment 
to guide the poles? 

I fired, and I thought I hit them, but as they still 
persevered in their work I began to think it proba- 
ble that I had not put a sufficient charge in the piece, 
so when I loaded again I put in a double quantity of 
powder. I had no sooner loaded than I had the oppor- 
tunity of aiming at a hand I saw raised. I fired, but 
my piece was overloaded, and it burst, by which 
unfortunate accident I was thrown down with much 
violence. Three of my ribs and my right collar-bone 
were broken, and the flesh of my right hand was much 
torn. I was so completely stunned that I had no power 
to move, or even to breathe for some seconds. 

My wife saw me fall, and she naturally concluded 



No. i6] Boys' Defence 43 

I had been struck by a ball from the enemy. She ran 
to my assistance, and raised me up without making 
any noise whatever. As soon as I was able to articu- 
late, I told her how it had happened. After I was 
prostrated, my dearest wife assumed the command. 
She had an eye to every thing. She went round to 
furnish ammunition as it was required, and she gave 
courage as well by her exhortations as by her example. 

My sons defended the breach by an incessant fire 
from behind their mattress rampart. At last, a gre- 
nade was thrown in at the breach, which ran under 
the basket. It overturned the whole affair, but with- 
out doing any harm, thanks be to God, except giving 
the boys a fright which made them abandon their post; 
but only for a very short time. 

One of them ran to me, in great dismay, to tell me 
that the hole was as large as any door, and that the 
enemy were entering by it. The other boys were still 
firing from the dormer windows. 

I immediately rose from my bed, and asked them 
to give me a pistol ready cocked and loaded, which I 
took in my left hand, the right being useless. I called 
my family around me, and I said to them, '' I see, my 
dear children, that we must be overpowered by the 
great number of those who are attacking us. It is 
inevitable ; but we will not stand quietly to be killed 
Hke dogs. Let us rather sell our lives dearly, and die 
like Hons." I was advancing towards the breach while 
I said these words. 

As soon as I had done speaking, my poor boys 
re-entered the room, and took up their old position 
without a word or a gesture indicative of fear. They 
replaced their basket and mattress, exposed to the fire 
of more than ten muskets. It was, indeed, a melan- 



44 



On the Sea [no. i6 



choly sight ! At the same time, I was gratified with 
their display of unflinching courage. Blessed be thou, 
O my God! who preserved them from injury amid 
such a shower of balls. 

When they resumed the fire, the enemy retreated 
from the breach, and did not dare to show their heads, 
or even their hands. This caused all their fire to be 
thrown away ; for, by not raising the butt-end of their 
muskets, they carried too high, and the shot went far 
above us every time. Seeing that we did not give way 
in the least, they began to tire of our obstinate resist- 
ance. They might possibly have heard me speak to 
the children, and it is very certain they overrated our 
force extremely. From the constant fire in all direc- 
tions, as well as upon the main point of attack, they 
concluded that we must have at least twenty men. 
They called out to us to surrender, and they would 
give us good quarter. 

I held a conversation with my wife and children, 
and we determined, at any rate, to hear what terms 
they offered. The firing was stopped on both sides, 
and I advanced to the breach to hold parley with them. 
One of the lieutenants came forward and took aim at 
me. My second son, Peter, saw what he was about, 
before I observed him. He immediately caught hold 
of me and drew me to one side, barely in time to save 
me from being the victim of their treachery ; for the 
ball passed within two or three inches of my stomach. 

I was extremely indignant, and said, " Ah ! you 
traitors ! was it then merely with the view of surpris- 
ing me, that you proposed a parley } Fire upon these 
traitors, my sons. Fire, I say." The boys obeyed 
me without loss of time, and fired upon the deceitful 
miscreants. I had foohshly exposed myself to a very 



No. i6] Boys' Defence 45 

great danger, by placing confidence in the good faith 
of an enemy whom I might have known was destitute 
of all honorable feeUng. The ever watchful provi- 
dence of God again interposed for my deliverance. 

We kept up an incessant fire for another quarter of 
an hour, when the enemy called out to us again, and 
made a second offer of good quarter. I reproached 
them with their recent perfidy, and told them I could 
not trust persons who had already attempted to betray 
the confidence I had reposed in them. 

They then threatened that, if we refused to surren- 
der, they would throw a barrel of powder in the breach, 
and blow us all up. 

'' I have three or four at your service here," said I, 
" and I intend to scatter their contents over this floor 
and the inner hall, and whenever you are pleased to 
enter, I will throw a Hghted turf upon it, and make 
you dance. You may depend upon it, I will not per- 
ish without you." 

The desperate tone of this reply made them repeat 
once more their offer of good quarter. So we had 
a cessation of hostihties on both sides. Their propo- 
sition was, that they should have the plunder, to which 
I assented. I demanded life and liberty for myself 
and all who were with me. 

He was to guarantee life and liberty to all of us, 
and to promise on their part the most strictly honora- 
ble deportment while in possession, and they were to 
have the plunder. They swore to the observance of 
these terms. I then had the doors opened, and ranged 
myself, my wife, my sons and four servants in regu- 
lar order, to surrender our arms to the Commander, 
as he entered. 

Oh, God ! our Preserver ! thou knowest, and none 



46 



On the Sea [No. ^^ 



else can know the state of my feelings at that moment, 
to see my beloved wife and dear children, at the mercy 
of enemies, fourteen of whom we had wounded. Oh ! 
what everlasting praises do we owe to thee for our 
preservation. It was thou who restrained our blood- 
thirsty enemies from executing the vengeance which 
they had sworn against us. Oh, my God ! I beseech 
thee to sanctify the lives which thou hast so miracu- 
lously preserved, and assist us to devote them to thy 
service ! 

The Commander, and a good many of the men came 
in, and seeing only five youths, and four cowherds, 
they looked anxiously around, and asked me where 
all my men were, evidently fearing an ambuscade. 

" You need not fear anything dishonorable fvom 
me," said I, *' you now see our whole garrison." 
''Impossible," said he, "these children could never 
have kept up all the firing." 

My wife then spoke to him, and said, '' I am in hopes, 
sir, that the fact of so few persons having made this 
gallant defence, will be an inducement to you — whom 
I trust we shall find a man of honor — to treat us with 
the more consideration." Struck with her courage the 
Commander ordered a guard to protect us, and con- 
tented himself with sweeping away what remained of 
our place. 



17. A Pirate's Fate 

By Benjamin Colman (1726) 

In many The story of these wretched men is short and 

cases piracy tj-agical. They sailed from Jamaica on board a 
mutiny and suow, John Green, Commander, bound to Guinea. 



No. 17] 



Pirate s Fate 



47 



They had not been long at sea before they conspired the seizure 
to seize the captain and mate and then o-q a-piratins:. o^^ the ship b] 

^ & r fc. tl-(g sailors. 

On the 27th of May, 1726, they put in execution 

their wicked design, in a most cruel and barbarous 

manner. About one o'clock in the morning, William 

Fly, then boatswain of the snow ** Elizabeth," after A snow is a 

he had been for some time forward with several ^ortofbrig. 

of the sailors, came aft with Alexander Mitchel and 

others, and said to Morrice Cunden (gunner of the 

ship), then at the helm. *' You, dog, if you stir 

hand or foot, or speak a word, I'll blow your brains 

out!" 

And immediately thereupon he went into the 
cabin where Captain Green was in bed, and Alex- 
ander Mitchel followed him ; and while they were 
there Morrice Cunden heard the captain cry out: 
''What's the matter.''" But they soon hauled him 
upon deck, and were about to throw him overboard ; 




A SHIP OF WAR. 



48 



On the Sea [no. x^ 



he was heard calHng earnestly to the doctor to hand 
him a rope. But the doctor was by this time himself 
in irons. Thus bloodily these inhuman creatures be- 
gan their piracy, but vengeance followed them and 
suffered them not to live. 

William Fly, the chief and worst (we may suppose) 
of these barbarous rogues, took on him the command, 
and named the snow the " Fame's Revenge." They 
were well stored with powder, and rum and pro- 
visions, but wanted a better vessel ; and in quest of 
this it is likely they bent their course, first to Caro- 
lina, and from thence to New England. On the 
third of June they took a sloop at anchor off North 
Carohna, on board of which was Mr. WilHam Atkin- 
son, a passenger ; who was afterwards the happy 
instrument in the hand of God for their destruction. 
They very much needed one so well skilled, as Atkin- 
son was both a mariner and pilot; and Fly treated 
him well on that account, but kept a strict eye upon 
him, forbidding him to have any conversation with 
the forced men ; and, lest he should talk to them, he 
had a hammock hung for him in the cabin. 

They commanded him to carry them to Martha's 
Vineyard in order to wood and water there, and in 
hopes to meet with some sloop fitting for their purpose. 
But he resolved to run the venture of carrying them 
past the Vineyard, and run them up into or near the 
bay before they were aware of it. When they per- 
ceived it they began to look upon him with an evil 
eye, and spake of throwing him overboard. But as 
Fly was uttering his rage at him the next morning 
on this account, and teUing him what death he should 
die if anything ill befell them through his conduct, 
a schooner came in sight, which put an end to Fly's 



No. 17] Pirate s Fate 49 

rage, for the joy of a good prize. They found it a 
schooner of Marblehead, George Girdler, Master. 

Mr. Atkinson had some time before this meditated 
the seizing on Fly and his company, and found means 
secretly to communicate his mind to some on board, 
whom he thought he might trust; particularly to 
Samuel Walker, and Thomas Streaton ; and Walker 
had spoken of it to James Benbrook ; who all con- 
sented if a fair opportunity should offer. 

It was very necessary to his design to ingratiate 
himself, as far as he honestly and with a good con- 
science could, with Fly and his pirates. Yet in doing 
this he ran a risk both of his innocence and his life ; 
of his innocence, for *' with a furious man thou shalt 
not go, lest thou learn his ways and get a snare to 
thy soul ; " and of his Hfe, for as some of the pirates, 
the captain especially, began to think friendly of 
him and to hearken to his advice (they all depending 
on him to navigate the ship). If a ship of war had 
taken them, it is to be feared that he had in vain 
pleaded his innocence and good intentions. But the 
good God who preserved, has also pleaded his inno- 
cence. And we ought to praise his virtue, conduct 
and courage, and give God the glory of it. 

Fly had no sooner taken the schooner of Marble- 
head, when they discovered another at a distance from 
them. Whereupon he put three men on board the 
schooner, and purposed to bear down on the new 
sail with both his vessels. But Mr. Atkinson with 
a ready thought advised him to put six men into the 
schooner, and send her down on the fishing vessels, 
for the schooner had been one of their company but 
a day before, and so there would be no HkeHhood of 
their flying from her: "but," said he, "if the snow 



5 o On the Sea [no. 17 

and the schooner now bear down together, they'll 
take you for what you are, and make away from you." 
Fly came into his advice and put three men more 
into the schooner, and parted with her, standing a 
course wide from her. 

Now Atkinson's thoughts were hard at work how 
to draw Fly away from his arms on the quarter-deck. 
For there he kept alone, nor would suffer Atkinson 
to step up, so much as to set down the bowl of 
punch after he had drank to him. And probably 
a message which he received from a chief pirate on 
board the schooner, "To have a special care of his 
friend," did increase his jealousy; though he seemed 
only to laugh at it. 

Within a little while Atkinson spied a sail ahead 
to the leeward, and informed Fly of it. And pres- 
ently after he pretended to discover two or three 
more sail, and told him he would have a fleet of 
prizes. But Fly with his glass could see but one. 
*'Why," said Atkinson, *'if you were but here, sir, 
with your glass, ahead, you would easily see them 
all." On a sudden Fly forgot his caution, and comes 
off the quarter-deck, where his arms lay, and sits 
him down ahead to spy the sails spoken of. Then 
Atkinson gave the sign to his friends, and Walker 
followed by Benbrook came up, pretending at first 
to direct the captain to look a point or two on such 
a side, while Atkinson (a spare and slender man) 
passed aft toward the arms, and in the instant that 
Walker laid hold of Fly he took the fire-arms, and 
returned pointing the gun to the pirate's breast, and 
telling him *' He was a dead man if he did not im- 
mediately submit himself his prisoner." The wicked 
Fly earnestly begged for his life, and now found that 



No. 17] Pirate s Fate 5 i 

mercy which he had so barbarously denied to his 
innocent captain. 

When Fly found himself chained down and effectu- 
ally secured, he fell at times into the most desperate 
ragings ; the same blasphemer now in his furious 
despair, or worse than he ever was before in his 
jolUty and pride ; when he would sometimes even 
dare to ridicule the noise of God's thunder, as it 
rattled over him, saying, " That they were playing 
bowls in the air," etc., and as the lightnings some- 
times flashed upon them, he would say — " Who fires 
now.? Stand by," etc. — So he dared the dreadful 
vengeance, which pursued him swift as the Hghtnings 
and suddenly struck him. 

But Capt. Atkinson and his brave mates are much 
to be praised, that they dealt so mercifully with these 
bloody men; and neither "blew their brains out" 
(their own phrase) nor threw them overboard. Blessed 
be God that kept them that day from shedding blood, 
and from avenging themselves with their own hands. 
It was much better to reserve the murderers to the 
judgment of the law, in the proper course of it. Capt. 
Atkinson and his company now made the best of 
their way for the port of Boston. 



in 1737. 



52 On the Sea [no. is 

18. Sharks and Water Spouts 

By Rev, George Whitefield (1737) 

My dear Friends, — 
Rev. George Though I know 110 reason why you should be solic- 
theerea^t ' itous about anything that happens to such a dead 
preacher, dog as I am, yet as your love (O unmerited Kindness) 
describes abounds exceedingly towards me, I send you a full 

some of the . ^ •' . -^ 

incidents of and particular account of my voyage. 

of his voyage Monday, Feb. 20, 1737. — I spent the morning on 
board in writing letters to my dear friends in England. 
Went in the afternoon on shore to Gibralter, and was 
unspeakably delighted with the prospect of the place. 
The seeing persons of all nations and languages gave 
me great pleasure. 

Saturday, March 18. — The weather being exceed- 
ingly fair, and the sea calm, I went with the Captain 
on board the Lightfoot. Dined with the gentlemen 
belonging to the ship ; married a couple ; dispersed 
Bibles, testaments and soldiers' monitors amongst the 
men. Exchanged some books for some cards which 
I threw overboard. Preached a sermon against drunk- 
enness which God enabled me to finish yesterday ; 
and returned in the evening highly dehghted with 
seeing the porpoises roll about the great deep. 

Monday, March 20. — To-day the Colonel came to 
dine with us, and in the midst of our meal we were 
entertained with a most agreeable sight. It was a 
shark about the length of a man. It followed our 
ship, and was attended with five little fishes, called 
the pilot fish, much like a mackerel, but larger. 

These I am told always keep the shark company. 
And what is most surprising, though the shark is so 



No. i8] Water Spouts 5 3 

ravenous a creature, yet let it be never so hungry, it 
never touches one of them. Nor are they less faith- 
ful to him. For if at any time the shark is hooked, 
these little creatures will not forsake him. They 
cleave close to his fins and are often taken up with 
him. Go to the pilot-fish, thou that forsakest a friend 
in adversity. Consider his ways and be abashed. 

Tuesday, April i8. — Was greatly delighted in see- 
ing two water spouts, which ran along for several 
miles, and by the especial Providence of God escaped 
us. We saw one of them coming, and were surprised 
to observe a sudden calm for about six minutes. 

The other parts of the sea boiled like a pot. But 
surely the everlasting I AM said to the sea at that 
instant, "' Let there be a calm in that place." For 
by that means our ship was immediately stopped in 
her course. So the water spout passed by before we 
came up to it. Otherwise it would have torn our sail 
in pieces. God's hand was so visible in this, that 
several said they never beheld the like before. 

Saturday, April 22. — Fled as it were on the wings 
of the wind for three days past. I find that God 
generally sends us strongest winds when nearest our 
port. 

Friday, May 5. — This afternoon, after having lain 
about a week on this coast, we saw Savannah River, 
and sent off for a pilot. Oh what joy appeared in 
everyone's countenance ! 

Sunday, May 7. — Last night, by the blessing of 
God, we cast anchor near Tyby Island about four- 
teen miles off Savannah. After this I took boat and 
arrived safe at Savannah, having a most pleasant 
passage, about seven in the evening. 




AN INDIAN TOWN. 



PART III 

IN THE WILDERNESS 



settlers called 
the Indian 



19. How to grow Indian Corn 

By Henry Spelman (1689) 

The Indians have houses, but few of the greatest The early 
towns have more than twenty or thirty of them. 
Their buildings are made Uke an oven, with a Httle chiefs 
hole through which they go out and in. In the midst "^^"gs." 
of the house there is a hole through which the smoke 
goes out. The king's houses are broader and longer 
than those of the other people, having many dark 
windings and turnings. 

When the Indians go hunting, the women go to a 
place assigned beforehand to build wigwams for their 
husbands to sleep in at night. They carry mats to 
cover these huts, and as the men go further in their 
hunting, the women go on ahead, carrying the mats. 

By the side of their dwelling-houses the Indians 
commonly make a place to plant their corn. If there 
be much wood in that place, they cut down the larger 
trees, and the smaller trees they burn to the root, 
pulling most of the bark from them so as to make 
them die. In these cornfields they used to dig holes 
with a crooked piece of wood. Since then the Eng- 

55 



56 



The U^ilderness 



[No. 19 



" Their 
wheat" 
means 

Indian corn; 
the Indians 
did not have 
real wheat. 



The Indian 
King, that is, 
the chief. 



The beads 
were brought 
from Europe, 
and the 
Indians 
greatly 
valued them ; 



lish have brought them shovels and spades. They 
put into these holes ordinarily four or five kernels of 
their wheat, and two beans. When the wheat has 
grown up, having a stalk as big as a cane reed, the 
beans run up on them, like our hops on poles. 

The ear of the wheat is long and thick, and yet for 
all its coarseness, the stalk has commonly four or five 
ears. Their corn is planted and gathered at about 
the same time as ours, but their manner of harvesting 
is Hke our way of gathering apples. First they put 
the ears in hand baskets, then empty them into larger 
baskets, made of the bark of trees or of hemp. Then 
they lay the corn upon thick mats in the sun to dry, 
and every night they make a great pile of it, covering 
it with mats to protect it from the dew. When it is 
safely weathered, they pile it up in their houses, and 
daily as they want to use some of the corn they rub 
the kernels off into a great basket, wringing the ears 
between their hands. A great basket of this takes 
up the best part of some of their houses. ShelHng 
corn is chiefly women's work, for the men only hunt 
to get skins in winter and dress them in summer. 

But though now it is out of our purpose, we may 
not forget altogether the planting of the King's corn, 
for which a day is appointed. On that day a great 
party of the country people meet and work so hard 
that the greater part of the King's corn is planted in 
one day. After the planting is over the King takes 
the crown which the King of England sent him, and 
puts it upon his head. This done, the people go 
backwards and forwards among the corn hills, the 
King following. Their faces are always towards the 
King, expecting that he will throw some beads among 
them. It is his custom at such a time to make those 



No. 20] 



Indian Corn 



57 



who had been planting corn scramble for the beads, before the 

Some of his favorites he calls to him and gives the jj^fhad^""^ 

beads into their own hands. This is the greatest only little 

courtesy which he offers to his people. When his sheHsand 

•' . 11- • fresh-water 

corn is ripe the country people come to him again pearls. 




AN INDIAN DANCE. 



and gather, dry, and rub out all his corn for him. The English 

and then store it in the houses abounding for that yerysoon 

^ learned to 

purpose. 



20. Delights of New England 

By Rev. Francis Higginson (1630) 



eat the 
Indian 
"pone" or 
corn bread, 
baked in the 
ashes. 



The variety of the soil of New England is to be The writer of 
admired. It appears in the abundance of grass JlJes^'^''^^'^ 
which grows everywhere, very thick and very high Francis 



58 



The Wilderness 



[No. 20 



Higginson, 
whose 
voyage we 
read about 
in the last 
chapter. He 
is here writ- 
ing home to 
his friends, 
urging them 
to come ; 
and thou- 
sands of 
English 
people did 
come over at 
that time. 



in different places; but it grows very wild with a 
great stalk and broad wide blade, because it has 
never been cropped by cattle, nor mown with the 
scythe, and seldom trampled under foot. It can 
scarcely be believed how our cows and goats, horses 
and pigs, do thrive and prosper here in this country. 

In our plantation we can already buy a quart of 
milk for a penny. The abundant increase of grain 
proves this country to be a wonder. Thirty, forty, 
and sixty fold harvests are ordinary here. Our plant- 
ers hope to have more than a hundred-fold here this 
year. Our children, by planting corn, may earn 
more than their own support. 

This country abounds with roots of great variety 
which are good to eat. Our turnips, parsnips, and 
carrots are both bigger and sweeter than those ordi- 
narily found in England. Barberries grow in plenty, 
and pennyroyal, sorrel and water-cress, leeks and 
onions. There also is an abundance of other wild 
herbs, delightful to smell, whose names we do not 
know. There is a plenty of single damask roses, 
very sweet ; and two kinds of herbs which bear two 
kinds of flowers, which they say are as good to make 
cordage or cloth as our hemp or flax. We have mul- 
berries, plums, raspberries, currants, chestnuts and 
walnuts, all of which grow in plenty here. 

New England has water enough, both salt and 
fresh, as the Atlantic sea runs all along this coast. 
We have a number of excellent harbors, such as Cape 
Ann and Massachusetts Bay and Salem. The abund- 
ance of sea-fish is almost beyond beHeving, and usu- 
ally I can scarce believe it with my own eyes. I 
often see a great number of whales, mackerel, and 
codfish taken in. Then there is a fish called bass, as 



No. 21] New England 59 

sweet and wholesome a fish as ever I did eat. It is 
altogether as good as our fresh herring. They come 
in June, and again three months later. Of this fish 
one may take many hundreds together. Indeed, their 
nets ordinarily take more than the fishermen are able 
to haul to land, so that they want for boats and men, 
and often are forced to let many go that they have 
taken. Besides bass, we took plenty of thornbacks, 
and an abundance of lobsters, so that the smallest boy 
in the plantation may both catch and eat as many 
as he may wish of them. 

The air of New England is one special thing that 
commends this place. Experience shows that there 
is hardly a more healthful place to be found in the 
world, or one that agrees better with our English 
bodies. Many who were weak and sickly in Old 
England, by coming hither, have been safely healed, 
and grown healthful and strong. A sup of New 
England's air is better than a whole draught of Old 
England's ale. 



2 1. All Sorts of Creatures 

By John Josselyn (i 663-1 672) 

The humming birds, the smallest of all birds, are John 
of changeable colors, and are found in New Eng- 1°^^^^^^^^^^ 
land. They feed upon honey which they suck out the country, 
of flowers with their long needle-like bills. They and also fond 

1 11 . 1 1 -1 '1 oftelhnga 

sleep all wmter and are not to be seen until the big story; the 

spring, at which time they brood in little nests, made humming- 

of soft, silk-like stuff. Their eggs are no bigger appearTn 

than white peas, and they hatch four or five at a winter, 

^•__ because they 

tl^^- go south. 



6o 



The Wilderness 



[No. 21 



Wild 
turkeys. 



Young 
turkeys are 
still thought 
very hard to 
raise. 



Two cen- 
turies later 
such pigeon 
roosts 

existed near 
the Ohio 
River. 



The turkeys are blacker than ours. I have heard 
several trustworthy persons say that they have seen 
turkey-cocks that weighed forty, even sixty pounds. 
Out of my personal experience, I can assure you that 
I have eaten my share of a turkey that weighed 
thirty pounds after he was dressed. I have also 
seen sixty broods of young turkeys on the side of a 
marsh, sunning themselves early in the morning. The 
English and the Indians have, by this time, nearly de- 
stroyed the breed, so that it is very rare to meet with 
a wild turkey in the woods. Some of the English 
people, however, have numbers of them in their yards. 

The wild turkeys hatch twice or three times in a 
year. If you would keep the young alive, you must 
give them little water, for if they have their fill of 
water, they will grow weak, and you will never be 
able to raise any of them. The squaws weave coats 
of turkey feathers for their children. 

Of pigeons there are millions upon millions. In 
the spring and in the fall when they return south- 
ward. I have seen a flight of pigeons four or five 
miles long. To my thinking, they had neither begin- 
ning nor ending. So thick they were that I could 
see no sun. In one tree might be seen nest after 
nest. And one tree after another for miles among 
the pine trees, I have seen, filled with these nests. 
But they are fewer now. 

The owl is the dullest bird there is. Of these 
there are three sorts, a great grey owl with ears, a 
little gray owl, and a white owl. Poor, ragged birds 
they are, and have no glittering, golden feathers. 

Of beasts of the earth there are not many kinds 
here. The wolves have their kennels under thick 
bushes by great trees, in far-off places in the swamps. 



No. 21] Wild Beasts 6 1 

A dog caught a wolf which had got into the 
sea, and held him there until some one went in and 
led him out. The dog kept his hold upon the wolf 
until they had tied its legs. When they brought the 
wolf into the house, they unbound his legs, and he 
did not offer to bite. He did not so much as show 
his teeth. He put his head down, and looked toward 
the door, as if he would willingly have his liberty. 
But they killed him, as they did other wolves. 

The bear at certain seasons is a terrible creature. 
When hunted with dogs, he goes up a tree, where he 
is shot. When he is fat, which is in acorn time, and 
in winter, he makes good food. But then there is 
no one who dares to kill him but the Indians. 

The bear makes his den among thick bushes, push- The white 
ing in here and there a lot of moss. This moss, People killed 

, . 1-1 1.11- . t lots of them. 

bemg covered with snow, melts m the daytime with 
the heat of the sun : but in the night it is frozen in 
a thick coat of ice. The mouth of the den is very 
narrow. Here they lie single, never two in a den all 
winter. 

The Indian, as soon as he finds them, creeps in 
upon all fours. With his left hand, he seizes the 
neck of the sleeping bear, drags him to the mouth of 
the den, where with a club or small hatchet he kills 
him, before he can open his eyes. But sometimes 
the bear is too quick for the Indian, as one of them 
called Black Robin can tell. He was badly hurt by 
the bear before he could strike it. 

The females among beasts and birds of prey, in 
size and beauty, surpass the males. So do they 
especially among fishes. 

To speak of fishes I shall begin first with the The whale is 
whale. The whale is a kingly fish as all fishes of "0^^^^^, 

° ^ but an 



62 



The Wilderness 



[No. 21 



animal living 
in the water ; 
it cannot 
stay long 
under water 
without 
rising to take 
breath. 



No such big 
lobsters are 
left now. 



great size are. There was one of them thrown up 
on the shore about eight miles from where I Hved. 
This whale was fifty-five feet long. These sea crea- 
tures are of great strength and size. 

The herring are very numerous. The people 
catch them all summer long. We saw them once 
driven into the harbour by other great fish that feed 
upon them near the shore. It was at the time of 
high water. They threw themselves upon the land 
in such great numbers that we could have gone up 
to the knee among them for a quarter of a mile. 

I have seen a lobster that weighed twenty pounds. 
They cast off their shell-coats in the spring, and so 
do crabs. They have, underneath, a thin, red skin 

.^^ _ which grows thick 

I ;•-.: w_ . and hard in a short 

time, and forms a new 
shell-coat. The Ind- 
ians feed much upon 
the lobster. Some 
they roast and some 
they dry. 

The starfish has 
five points Hke a star. 
The whole fish is no 
bigger than the palm 
of a man's hand. It 
is of a tough sub- 
stance, like leather. 
It is about an inch in 
thickness, whitish un- 
derneath, of the color 
of a cucumber above 
A BIG COLONIAL TREE. aud somcwhat rough. 



^^jt^. 




No. 22] Tobacco 63 

When it is warm in one's hand, you may see it 
make a stiff motion, turning down one of its points 
and putting up another. The starfish is very com- 
mon, and is found thrown up on the rocks by the 
sea-tide. 



2 2. How to raise Tobacco 

By Alsop (1666) 

The three main commodities this country affords Tobacco was 

for trade, are tobacco, furs, and flesh. Furs and crop"lnthe 

skins, as those of beavers, otters, musk-rats, rac- South in the 

coons, wild-cats, and elk or buffalo, with several ^°^°"i^^ 

' ' , ' time, and 

others, were first sold by the Indians of the country, therefore 
They were sold to the white people livinsr near, and we ought to 

. i . . - ^ ^ . , , ^ . ' know how it 

by them to the merchants who carried them mto Eng- was grown, 
land and other places where they became salable. 

Tobacco is the only regular article of trade of this 
province. The use of it was first found out by the 
Indians many ages ago. Its use was brought into 
the Christian world by that great discoverer of 
America, Columbus. It is generally made by all SirV^aiter 
the people of this province. Between the months ^^}^^f^ 

^ ^ I- introduced 

of March and April, they sow the seed, which is smoking into 

much smaller than mustard-seed, in small beds and England. 

patches. These patches are dug up and made with 

care. About May the plants commonly appear green 

in those beds. In June they are transplanted from 

their beds, and set in little hillocks in distant rows, 

dug up for the same purpose. To top 

Twice or thrice they are weeded, and freed from tobacco = 
poor leaves that are peeping out from the body of young grow- 
the stalk. They cut off the tops of the several ing heads. 



64 



The Wilderness [no. 22 



plants as they find occasion, when they grow too fast. 
About the middle of September they cut the tobacco 
down, and carry it into houses, made for that purpose, 
to bring it to its purity. And after time has brought it 
to perfection, it is then tied up in bundles, and packed 
into hogsheads. It is then laid away for trade. 

Between November and January there arrive in 
this province ships to the number of twenty sail 
and upwards. All are trading vessels loaded with 
goods to sell or trade. They trade with the planter 
for silks, hollands, woolens, and broadcloths, and other 
necessary goods, at such rates as shall be thought faii 
and lawful for tobacco at so much the pound. Ad- 
vantage on both sides is considered. The planter has 
given his work, and the merchant has risked coming 
with his goods into a far country. Thus is the trade 
on both sides made in a fair and honest way. 

The people of this province are seldom or never 
put to the fear of being robbed of their money, nor 
of dirtying their fingers by counting vast sums. They 
have more bags to carry corn than coin ; but the 
very product of the dirty ground of this province 
affords as great a profit to the inhabitants as the 
gold of Peru does to the Spaniard. 

Our shops of Maryland are the merchants' store- 
houses, where with few words goods are bought and 
delivered. They are not like those shop-keepers' 
boys in London that continually cry, " What do ye 
lack, sir .? What do ye buy t " 

Tobacco is the coin of Maryland, and will purchase 
goods from the merchant quicker than money. I 
must confess the New England men that trade into 
this province, had rather have fat pork for goods, 
than tobacco or furs. 



No. 23] 



Wild Thi. 



ngs 



65 



23. Carolina Beasts 

By Thomas Ash (1680) 

Fireflies. — There are in Carolina great numbers 
of fireflies, who carry their lanterns in their tails, in 
dark nights flying through the air, shining Uke streaks 
of fire, and lighting it with their golden spangles. I 
have seen a larger sort at Jamaica. These have two 
lights upon their eyes and a third in their tails ; on 
dark nights they shine Hke candles, so that I have 
often, at a distance, mistaken their sparkle for the 
fights of some distant plantation. Amongst large 
orange trees in the night I have seen many of those 
flies whose lights have appeared like hanging candles 
or hanging torches which amidst the leaves yielded a 
sight truly curious. With three of these fireflies 
secured in a glass bottle in a very dark night I have 
read very small print. 

Turtles. — The tortoises, more commonly called by 
our Indians the turtles, are of three sorts : the hawks- 
bill, whose shell is that which we call the tortoise 
shell; the green turtle, whose flesh is good to eat; 
the third kind is called the loggerhead turtle, and 
neither its shell nor its flesh is of worth. The kind of 
creatures who live both on the land and on the sea, 
in the day usually keep in the sea, swimming on the 
surface. In fair weather they delight to expose them- 
selves to the sun, oftentimes falling asleep, lying there 
without any motion on the water, until they are dis- 
turbed by the approach of some ship. Then, as they 
are very quick of hearing, they awaken quickly and 
dive away. In the night they often come on shore 
to feed, and lay their eggs in the sand, which once 



Thomas Ash 
was born in 
England in 
1650, and 
came over to 
the part of 
the coast at 
first con- 
sidered the 
southern part 
of Virginia, 
but which in 
1676 was 
chartered as 
the colony of 
Carolina. He 
was Gov- 
ernor of that 
colony from 
1689 to 1694, 
and wrote 
one of the 
best accounts 
of the coun- 
try that has 
come down 
to us. 

Fireflies were 
not known in 
England. 
The turtles of 
which Ash 
speaks are all 
water turtles. 
The colonists 
found them 
very useful 
for food, but 
at the present 
day very few 
come ashore. 



66 



The Wilderness 



[No. 23 



The sea cow 
is also called 
the manatee ; 
it is now very 
scarce in the 
waters of the 
coast of the 
United 
States. 



A rifle-ball 
will penetrate 
the alligator's 
hide. 



covered they leave for the sun to hatch. The httle 
turtles dig their passage out of the sand, immediately 
making their way towards the water. 

Sea Cow. — There is, farther to the southward of 
Carolina, a fish called the sea cow, of extraordinary 
size, sometimes of a thousand pounds. It feeds on 
the banks on the grassy herbage. She has a head like 
a cow and is of a green color. Her flesh is said to 
be sweeter than the tenderest veal. Its skin makes 
excellent whips for horses, which are very serviceable 
and lasting. 

Alligator or Crocodile. — There are in the mouths 
of their rivers, or in the lakes near the sea, creatures 
which are little known in the West Indies and are 
called alligators or crocodiles. Their backs are scaly 
and impenetrable, so that a musket ball cannot pierce 
them. It lives both on land and on water, and is 
such a greedy creature that it devours everything it 
sees. Man, however, it dares to take on land only 
by surprise or when asleep. In the water the croco- 
dile is more dangerous. It sometimes grows to great 
length, from sixteen to twenty feet, and has a long 
mouth set with sharp teeth. Its body, when full 
grown, is as large as that of a horse, growing smaller 
towards the tail. Nature has given land creatures an 
instinct to avoid the crocodile, warning them by its 
strong musky smell, which can be perceived at con- 
siderable distance, so that poor cattle, smelHng it in 
time, can get out of harm's way. 



No. 24] A Woman s Travels 



67 



24. The Dangers of the Way 

By Madam Sarah Knight (1704) 

Monday, October 2nd, 1704. 

About three o'clock afternoon I began my journey 
from Boston to New Haven, being about two hundred 
miles. When we had ridden about an hour, we came 
into a thick swamp, which by reason of a great fog, 
very much startled me, for it was now very dark. 

In about an hour, or something more, after we left 
the swamp, we came to Billing's tavern, where I was 
to lodge. My guide dismounted and very complai- 
santly helped me down, and showed the door, signing 
to me with his hand to go in ; which I gladly did. 

But I had not gone many steps into the room ere I 
was interrogated by a young lady (I understood after- 
wards she was the elder daughter of the family). 
These were her words. 

" Law for me — what in the world brings you here 
at this time a' night .'' I never see a woman on the 
road so dreadful late in all the days of my versall life. 
Who are you } Where are you going } I'm scared 
out of my wits." With much more of the same kind. 

I told her she treated me very rudely, and I did not 
think it my duty to answer her unmannerly questions. 
But to get rid of them I told her I came there to 
have the mail carrier's company with me tomorrow on 
my journey. I begged the Miss to show me where I 
must lodge. 

She conducted me to a parlor in a little back 
lean-to, which was almost filled with the bedstead. It 
was so high that I was forced to climb on a chair to 
get up to the wretched bed that lay on it. Having 



This brave 
lady started 
off cheerfully 
for her long 
and dan- 
gerous 
journey ; 
there were 
then few 
roads in 
New Eng- 
land, and 
few bridges. 



See for saw. 

Versall = 
probably uni- 
versal. 



68 The Wilderness [no. 24 

stretched my tired limbs on it, and laid my head on a 
sad colored pillow, I began to think on the transactions 
of the past day. 

Tuesday, October 3rd. About eight in the morn- 
ing I, with the mail carrier, proceeded forward with- 
out anything remarkable. And about two in the 
afternoon, we arrived at the carrier's second stage, 
where the western postman met him with letters. 

Here, having called for something to eat, the 
woman brought a twisted thing like a cable, but a 
little whiter, which proved to be a loaf of bread. Lay- 
ing it on the table she tugged for life to bring it into 
a capacity to spread. Having with great pains accom- 
plished this, she served also a dish of pork and cab- 
bage. I suppose this was the remains of dinner. 

The sauce was of a deep purple, as I thought, be- 
cause it was boiled in her dye pot. The bread was 
of Indian meal and everything on the table service 
in keeping. As I was hungry, I got a little down. 
But my stomach was soon cloyed. 

About three in the afternoon I went on with my 
third guide, who rode very hard. We came to a 
river which they generally ride through. But I dared 
not venture. So the mail carrier got a lad and canoe 
to carry me to the other side, and he rode through 
and led my horse. The canoe was very small and 
shallow, so that when we were in it seemed ready to 
take in water, which greatly terrified me. 

This caused me to be very circumspect, sitting 

with my hands fast on each side, my eyes steady. I 

did not dare so much as to lodge my tongue a hair's 

Lot's wife breadth more on one side of my mouth than on the 

was turned other. I dared not so much as to think of Lot's wife, 

into salt for , , i i , i 

looking back, for a wry thought would have overset our wherry. 



No. 24] A Woman s Travels 6g 

But I was soon put out of this pain by feeling the 
canoe on shore, and I as soon ahuost saluted the land 
with my feet. 

Rewarding my canoeman, again I mounted and 
we made the best of our way forward. The road 
here was very even and the day pleasant, near the 
sunset. The carrier now told me we had nearly 
fourteen miles to ride to the next stopping place, 
where we were to lodge. 

I asked him about the rest of the road, forseeing 
that we must travel in the night. He told me there 
was a bad river which we were to ride through with 
a current so very fierce that a horse could hardly 
stem it ; he said it was narrow, and we should soon 
be over. 

I cannot express the concern of mind caused by 
this account. No thoughts but those of the danger- 
ous river could entertain my imagination. They tor- 
mented me with blackest ideas of my approaching 
fate. Sometimes I saw myself drowning, other times 
drowned, and at the best like a holy sister just come 
out of a spiritual bath in dripping garments. 

Now was the glorious sun, with his swift courses, 
arrived at the end of his day's journey, leaving poor 
me with the rest of this part of the lower world in 
darkness, with which we were soon surrounded. 
The only glimmering we now had was from the 
spangled skies of which imperfect reflections ren- 
dered every object formidable. 

Each lifeless tree trunk with its shattered limbs, 
appeared an armed enemy, and every little stump 
like a ravenous devourer. Nor could I so much as 
see my guide, when at any distance which added to 
the terror. 



yo The Wilderness [No. 24 

Thus absolutely lost in thought, and dying with 
the very fear of drowning, I came up with the post- 
man, whom I did not see till I was beside his horse. 
He told me that he was stopping for me ; and we 
rode on very deliberately a few paces when we entered 
a thicket of trees and shrubs. 

I perceived by the horse's gait that we were on the 
descent of a hill. As we came nearer the bottom 
it was totally dark, from the trees that surrounded it. 
But I knew by the going of the horse, we had entered 
the water, and my guide told me that this was the 
hazardous river of which he had been talking. 

Riding up close to my side he bid me not to fear 
for we should be over immediately. I now rallied all 
the courage I was mistress of. I knew I must either 
venture the fate of drowning or be left like the chil- 
dren in the wood. 

So, as the postman bade me, I gave reins to my nag, 
and sitting as steady as just before in the canoe, in a 
few minutes got safe to the other side, which was the 
Narragansett country. 



No. 25] 



Wild Creatures 



71 



25. Creatures of the Wilderness 

By Colonel William Byrd (1728) 

We came to the banks of a creek called in the 
Indian language, *' Ohimpa-moni," signifying Jump- 
ing Creek, from the frequent jumping of fish during 
the spring season. 

Here we encamped, and by the time the horses were 
hobbled, our hunters brought us no less than a brace 
and a half of deer, which made great plenty and conse- 
quently great content in our quarters. Some of our 
people had shot a great wild cat which was at the 
fatal moment making a comfortable meal upon a fox- 
squirrel. 

The wild cat is as big again as any household cat, 
and much the fiercest inhabitant of the woods. When- 
ever it is disabled it will tear its own flesh for mad- 
ness. Although a panther will run away from a man, 
a wild cat will only make a surly retreat before him. 
Now and then he will face about if he be not too 
closely pursued. He will even pursue in his turn, if 
he observe the least sign of fear or even of caution 
in those that pretend to follow him. The flesh of 
this beast, as well as of the panther, is as white as 
veal, and altogether as sweet and delicious. 

One day a great flock of cranes flew over our 
quarters. They were exceedingly noisy in their flight. 
They seemed to steer their course toward the south 
(they are birds of passage) in quest of warmer weather. 
They only took this country on their way. They are 
as rarely met with in this part of the world as a high- 
wayman or a beggar. These birds travel generally 
in flocks. When they roost they place upon the high- 



Colonel 
Byrd was 
a great 
traveller in 
the back- 
woods of 
Virginia, and 
got beyond 
all the settle- 
ments into 
the wild 
woods, which 
are here 
described. 
A brace and 
a half is 
three. 



Of course 
there could 
be neither 
robbers nor 
beggars 
where there 
were no 
people. 



7 2 The Wilderness [no. 25 

est trees sentinels, which constantly stand upon one 
leg to keep themselves waking. 
I.e. Several We fordcd Several runs of excellent water. After- 
streams, wards we crossed a large level of high land full of 
lofty walnut, poplar, and white oak trees. As we 
marched along we saw many buffalo tracks, but could 
not have the pleasure of seeing the animals. They 
either smelt us out, having that sense of smell very 
lively, or else they were alarmed at the noise which 
so many people must necessarily make in marching 
along. At the sight of a man they will snort and 
grunt, cock up their ridiculous short tails, and tear 
up the ground with a fury of fear. These wild cattle 
hardly ever range alone, but herd together like tame 
cattle. 

We had been so refreshed by a day of rest that we 
broke camp one morning earlier than usual and passed 
the several fords of the Hico River. The woods were 
very thick a great part of this day's journey, so that 
we were forced to scuffle hard to advance seven miles. 

We took up our quarters again on Sugar-tree Creek. 
A little distance from this creek one of the men had 
the luck to meet with a young buffalo of two years 
old. Notwithstanding he was no older he was as big 
as an ordinary ox. His legs were very thick and 
very short and his hoofs exceeding broad. His back 
rose into a kind of bunch a little above the shoulders. 
This I believe contributes not a little to that crea- 
ture's enormous strength. 

The portly figure of this animal is disgraced by a 
shabby little tail, not above twelve inches long. This 
he cocks up on end, whenever he is in a passion ; 
and instead of lowing or bellowing, grunts with no 
better grace than a hog. 



No. 25] 



The Buffalo 



73 




THE SUPPOSED BUFFALO. 



The hair growing 

on his head and neck 

is long and shaggy, 

and so soft that it 

will spin into thread 

not unlike mohair. 

Some people have 

stockings knit of it, 

that would have 

served an Israelite 

during his forty years' 

march through the 

wilderness. 

Its horns are short and strong, and the Indians /.^. they are 

make large spoons out of them, which they say will ^36!""^ 

split and fall to pieces whenever poison is put into Therewasn< 

them. The color of the buffalo is a dirty brown, and ground for 

its hide is so thick that it is scarcely penetratable. this belief. 

Buffaloes may be easily tamed when they are taken 

young. 

As thick as this poor beast's hide was, a bullet made 

shift to enter it 
and fetch him 
down. He was 
found all alone, 
though buffa- 
loes seldom 
are. The men 
were so de- 
lighted with 
this new diet, 
that the grid- 
iron and the 
THE REAL BUFFALO, frying pau had 




74 The Wilderness [no. 25 

no rest all night. Before we marched this morn- 
ing, every man took care to pack up some buffalo 
steaks in his knapsack, besides what he crammed 
into himself. 

Another day we encamped on a pleasant hill, over- 
looking a river which seemed to be deep everywhere 
except where we forded. The Indian killed a very 
fat doe, and came across a bear which had been put 
to death and half devoured by a panther. 

The last named of these brutes reigns absolute 
monarch of the woods. In the keenness of his hun- 
ger he will venture to attack a bear ; though then it 
is always by surprise, as beasts of the cat kind come 
upon their prey. 

Their play is to take the poor bears napping. The 
bears are very drowsy animals. And though they 
are exceedingly strong, yet their strength is heavy ; 
while the panthers are too nimble and cunning to 
trust themselves within their hug. 

As formidable as the panther is to his fellow brutes, 
he never has the confidence to venture upon a man. 
He retires from him with great respect if there be a 
way open for his escape. However it must be con- 
fessed his voice is a little contemptible for a monarch 
of the forest. It is not a great deal louder or more 
awful than the mewing of a household cat. 

Not far from our quarters one of the men picked 
up a pair of elk's horns, not very large, and discov- 
ered the track of the elk that had shed them. The 
elk is as big as a horse and of the deer kind. Only 
the stags have horns and those exceedingly large and 
spreading. 

Their swiftest speed is a fast trot. In that motion 
they turn their horns back upon their necks, and cock 



No. 26] The Beaver 75 

their noses aloft in the air. Nature has taught them 
this attitude to save their antlers from being caught 
in the thickets. 

The Indians say if one of the drove happen by 
some wound to be disabled from making his escape, 
the rest will forsake their fears to defend their friend. 
This they will do with great obstinacy till they are 
killed on the spot, although otherwise they are so 
alarmed at the sight of a man, that to avoid him they 
will sometimes throw themselves down very high 
precipices into the river. 



26. Beavers and Bears 

By Colonel William Byrd (1728) 

We had difficulty in passing a water called Yapat- The beaver 

SCO or Beaver Creek. Those industrious animals, I^^^ *^^ "^'^" 

' fortune to 

the beavers, had dammed up the water so high that carry a coat 

we had much ado to get over. It is hardly credible of beautiful 

how much work of this kind they will do in the hence has 

space of one night. been hunted 

'T'u -L'^ T • j_ 1 i.1- almost out of 

They bite young saplmgs mto proper lengths the world, 

with their fore-teeth, which are exceedingly strong Very few are 

and sharp. Afterwards they drag them to the place "o^Jn^^inlhe 

where they intend to stop the water. Then they United 

know how to join timber and earth together with s^^^^^- 
so much skill that their work is able to resist the 
most violent flood that can happen. 

In this they are qualified to instruct their betters. 
It is certain their dams will stand firm when the 
strongest that are made by men will be carried down 
the stream. 



76 



The TFilderness [no. 26 



On our return journey we again had difficulty 
in crossing the Yapatsco. The beavers had dammed 
up the water much higher than we found it at 
our going up. So we were obHged to lay a bridge 
over a part that was shallower than the rest, to 
facilitate our passage. 

Beavers have more of instinct — that half brother 
of reason — than any other animal, especially in 
matters of self-preservation. In their houses they 
/.^. a gate of always contrive a sally-port, both towards the land 
^^^^' and towards the water. This enables them to escape 

by one, if their retreat should happen to be cut 
off by the other. 

They perform all their works in the dead of 
night to avoid discovery. They are kept diligently 
to it by the master beaver, which by his age or 
strength has gained to himself an authority over 
the rest. 

If any of the gang happen to be lazy, or will 
not exert himself to the utmost in feUing of 
trees, or dragging them to the place where they 
are to be made use of, this superintendent will 
not fail to chastise him. This he does with the 
flat of the tail, with which he is able to give 
unmerciful strokes. 

The beavers lie snug in their houses all day, 
unless some unneighborly miller chance to disturb 
their repose, by demolishing their dams to supply 
his mill with water. It is rare to see one of them. 
The Indians, for that reason, have hardly any 
way to take them, except by laying snares near the 
place where they dam up the water. 

Both beavers and wolves, we know, when one of 
their legs is caught in a trap, will bite it off, that 



No. 26] 



The Bear 



77 




they may escape with the rest. The fur of the 
beaver is very valuable, especially in the more north- 
ern countries, where it is longer and finer. 

Our Indian killed a bear that was feasting 
upon the wild grapes. In the fall, the flesh of 
this animal has a very high relish, different from 
that of other creat- 
ures ; but in its taste 
it inclines nearest to 
that of pork. This 
beast is in truth a 
very clean feeder, beaver. 

living, while -the season lasts, upon acorns, chestnuts 
and chinquapins, wild honey and wild grapes. About Chinqua- 

Tanuary, when there F'"^,^?* 

. -^ kind of 

is nothmg to be got acom. 
in the woods, they 
retire into some 
cave or hollow tree. 
There they sleep 
away two or three 
months very com- 
fortably. 

One of the young 
fellows whom we 
sent to bring up the tired horses entertained us in 
the evening with a remarkable adventure of that day. 
He had strayed, it seems, from his company in a bog, 
and made a bear cub a year old betake itself to a tree. 
While he was new-priming his gun with intent to fetch 
the cub down, the old gentle-woman appeared. Per- 
ceiving her son in distress, she advanced open mouthed 
to his relief. The man was so intent on his game 
that she had approached very near before he saw her. 




BEAR. 



78 



The Wilderness [no. 26 



But finding his danger, he faced about upon the 
enemy. She immediately reared upon her hind legs 
and put herself in battle array. The man, won- 
dering at the bear's assurance, endeavored to fire 
upon her. But owing to the dampness of the prim- 
ing, his gun did not go off. 

He cocked it a second time, and had the same 
misfortune. After missing fire twice he had the 
folly to punch the beast with the muzzle of his 
gun. But mother Bruin was on her guard, seized 
the weapon with her paws, and by main force 
wrenched it out of the fellow's hands. 

The man being thus fairly disarmed, thought 
himself no longer a match for the enemy. There- 
fore he retreated as fast as his legs could carry him. 
The brute naturally grew bolder upon the flight of her 
adversary, and pursued him with all her heavy speed. 

For some time it was doubtful whether fear 
made one run faster or fury the other. But after 
an even run, the man had the mishap to stumble over 
a stump and fell down at his full length. He now 
would have sold his life a pennyworth. 

But the bear fearing there might be some trick 
in the fall, instantly halted, and looked with much 
attention on her prostrate foe. In the meanwhile, 
the man had with great presence of mind resolved 
to make the bear believe he was dead. So he lay 
breathless on the ground, in hopes that the beast 
would be too generous to kill him over again. 

To carry on the farce, he lay motionless for 
some time without daring to raise his head to see 
how near the monster was to him. But in about 
two minutes, to his remarkable comfort, he was 
raised from the dead by the barking of a dog. The 



No. 27] The Alligator 79 

dog belonged to one of his companions who came 
seasonably to his rescue and drove the bear from 
pursuing the man to take care of her cub. For 
she feared it might now fall into a second distress. 



27. The Alligator in Georgia 

(1735) 

The crocodile, which seems to be the chief of rep- 
tiles, abounds in all the rivers of Georgia. They 
call them alligators. I have seen some of these 
twelve feet long, I believe. 

A number of various errors are commonly reported 
about these creatures. One is that their scales are 
musket proof ; whereas I have frequently seen them 
killed with small shot. Nay, I have heard from peo- 
ple of good credit, that when they have found one at 
a distance from the water, they have killed him with 
sticks. They did not think him worth a shot. 

Mr. Horton has more than once struck one through 
with a sword. The watermen often knock them on 
the head with their oars, as the alligators lie sleep- 
ing upon the banks. For they are very sluggish and 
timid ; though they can make one or two springs in 
the water with nimbleness enough. 

They can also snap with strength whatever comes 
within their jaws. They are terrible to look at, 
stretching open a horrible large mouth, big enough 
to swallow a man. They have rows of dreadful large 
sharp teeth. 

Their feet are like those of dragons, armed with 
great claws. They have a long tail which they throw 



8o The Wilderness [no. 27 

about with great strength, and which seems to be 
their best weapon. For their claws are weakly set 
on ; and the stiffness of their necks hinders them 
from turning nimbly to bite. 

When Mr. Oglethorpe was at Savannah for the 
first time, he tried to make an end of the fear which 
the people had for the crocodiles. So he wounded 
and caught one about twelve feet long, and had him 
Bait = worry, brought up to the town. He set the boys to bait 
him with sticks. 

The creature gaped and blew hard, but had no 
heart to move. It only turned about its tail, and 
snapt at the sticks. 

At our first coming they would stare at the boats, 
and stay still till they came up close to them ; so 
that Mr. Horton killed five in one day. But after 
frequent attacks, they grew more shy. They destroy 
a great many fish, and will seize a hog or a dog if 
they see him in the water. But their general way 
of preying is to lie still, with their mouths open and 
their noses just above water. So they watch till the 
stream brings something down as prey to them. 
They swallow anything that comes into their mouths, 
A kind of and upon opening them, knots of Hghtwood have been 
pine. found inside of them. 

They lay eggs which are smaller than those of a 
goose. They scrape together a number of leaves, 
and other trash, of which nature has taught them 
to choose such as will be warm. Of these they make 
a hot-bed, in the midst of which they leave their 
eggs covering them with a sufficient thickness. The 
heat of the heap, helped by the warmth of the climate, 
hatches the eggs and the young crocodiles creep out 
like small lizards. 



No. 28] Tamed Creatures 8 1 

28. Colonial Pets 

By Peter Kalm (1748) 

Upon trial it has been found that the follow- 
ing animals and birds which are wild in the woods 
of North America can be made nearly as tame as 
domestic animals. The calves of the wild cows, /.^.buffalo. 
which are found in Carolina, and other provinces 
to the south of Pennsylvania, can be brought up 
among tame cattle. When they are grown up 
they are perfectly tame but at the same time 
very unruly, so that no enclosure is strong enough 
to hold them if they try to break through. As 
they possess great strength in their necks it is 
easy for them to overthrow the fences with their 
horns, and to get into the cornfields. 

The American deer can Hkewise be tamed. A 
farmer in New Jersey had one in his possession, 
which he caught when it was very young ; at present, 
it is so tame that in the daytime it runs into the 
woods for its food, and towards night returns home, 
frequently bringing a wild deer out of the woods, 
giving its master an opportunity to hunt at his 
very door. 

Beavers have been tamed to such an extent that 
they have brought home what they caught by fish- 
ing to their masters. This is often the case with 
otters, of which I have seen some that were as tame 
as dogs, and followed their master wherever he 
went ; if he went out in a boat the otter went with 
him, jumped into the water and after a while came 
up with a fish. 

The raccoon can in time be made so tame as to 



82 The Wilderness [no. 28 

run about the streets like a domestic animal ; but it is 
impossible to make it leave off its habit of stealing. 
In the dark it creeps to the poultry, and kills a whole 
flock in one night. Sugar and other sweet things 
must be carefully hidden ; for if the chests and boxes 
are not always locked, it gets into them and eats the 
sugar with its paw. The ladies, therefore, have some 
complaint against it every day. 

The gray and flying squirrels are so tamed by the 
boys that they sit on their shoulders and follow 
them everywhere. 

The turkey cocks and hens run about in the woods 
of this country and differ in no respect from our 
tame ones, except in their superior size and more 
palatable flesh. When their eggs are found in the 
woods and put under tame turkey hens, the young 
ones become tame ; however, when they grow up, it 
sometimes happens that they fly away ; their wings are 
therefore commonly clipped when they are young. 

Wild geese are likewise tamed in the following 
manner. When the wild geese first come hither in 
the spring and stop a Tittle while the people try to 
shoot them on the wing. They then row to the 
place where the wild goose falls, catch it and keep it 
for some time at home ; by this means many of them 
have been made so tame that when they were let out 
in the morning they returned in the evening ; but to 
be more sure of them, their wings are commonly 
chpped. 

Partridges which are here in abundance, can be so 
far tamed as to run about all day with the poultry, 
coming along with them to be fed. In the same 
manner I have seen wild pigeons so tame that they 
will fly out and return again. 



No. 29] The Mosquito 83 

2g. Gossip about Bears and 
Mosquitoes 

By Peter Kalm (1748) 

Bears are very numerous higher up in the country, 
and do much mischief. Mr. Bartram told me, that 
when a bear catches a cow, he kills her in the follow- 
ing manner. He bites a hole into the hide, and blows This does 
with all his power into it, till the animal swells exces- "°^ ^f.^"^. 

^ ' very likely ; 

sively and dies ; for the air expands greatly between and Pro- 
the flesh and the hide. ^fl""' ^^'"^ 

did not say 

An old Swede, called Nils Gustave's son, who was that he had 
ninety-one years of age, said, that in his youth, the ever seen it. 
bears had been very frequent hereabouts, but that 
they had seldom attacked the cattle. Whenever a 
bear was killed, its flesh was prepared Uke pork, and 
it had a very good taste. 

The flesh of bears is still prepared like ham, on the 
river Morris. The environs of Philadelphia, and 
even the whole province of Pennsylvania in general, 
contain very few bears, for they have been extirpated 
by degrees. In Virginia they kill them in several 
different ways. Their flesh is eaten by both rich and 
poor, since it is reckoned equal in goodness to pork. 
In some parts of this province, where no hogs can be 
kept, on account of the great numbers of bears, the 
people are used to catch and kill them, and to use 
them instead of hogs. The American bears, however, 
are said to be less fierce and dangerous than the 
European ones. 

The gnats, which are very troublesome at night 
here, are called mosquitoes. They are exactly like 



84 



The Wilderness [no. 29 



the gnats in Sweden, only somewhat smaller. In 
daytime or at night they come into the houses and 
when the people have gone to bed they begin their 
disagreeable humming, approach nearer to the bed, 
and at last suck up so much blood that they can 
hardly fly away. Their bite causes bUsters on peo- 
ple with deUcate skins. 

When the weather has been cool for some days, 
the mosquitoes disappear. But when it changes 
again, and especially after a rain, they gather fre- 
quently in such quantities about the houses that their 
numbers are astonishing. The chimneys which have 
no valves for shutting them out afford the gnats a 
free entrance into the houses of the EngHsh. In 
sultry evenings the mosquitoes accompany the cattle 
in great swarms from the woods to the houses, or to 
town, and when the cattle are driven past the houses 
the gnats fly in wherever they can. 

In the greatest heat of the summer they are so 
numerous in some places, that the air seems to be 
quite full of them, especially near swamps and stag- 
nant water, such as the river Morris in New Jersey. 
The inhabitants therefore make a big fire before the 
houses to expel these disagreeable guests by the smoke. 
The old Swedes here say that gnats have formerly 
been much more numerous ; that even at present they 
swarm in vast quantities on the seashore near the 
salt water; and that those which troubled us this 
autumn in Philadelphia were of a more poisonous 
kind than they commonly used to be. This last 
quaUty appeared from the blisters which were formed 
on the spots where the gnats had made their sting. 
In Sweden I never felt any other inconvenience from 
their sting than a little itching while they sucked, 



No. 3o] The Bullfrog 85 

But when they stung me here at night my face was 
so disfigured by Httle red spots and blisters that I 
was almost ashamed to show myself. 



30. Bullfrogs 

By Peter Kalm (1749) 

Bullfrogs are a large species of frogs which I had This seems 
an opportunity of hearing and seeing to-day. As I ^i^eaiarge 
was riding out, I heard a roaring before me; and I kindofbuU- 
thought it was a bull in the bushes, on the other side ^''^s^ "^"^^ 
of the dyke, though the sound was rather more hoarse pelredjor" 
than that of a bull. I was however afraid, that a bad nobody sees 
goring bull might be near me, though I did not see ^^^"^ "°^' 
him. 

I continued to think so till some hours after, when 
I talked with some Swedes about the bullfrogs, and, 
by their account, I immediately found that I had 
heard their voice. The Swedes told me, that there 
were numbers of them in the dyke. I afterwards 
hunted for them. Of all the frogs in this country, 
this is doubtless the greatest. 

I am told, that towards autumn, as soon as the air 
begins to grow a little cool, they hide themselves 
under the mud, which lies at the bottom of ponds and 
stagnant waters, and lie there torpid during winter. 
As soon as the weather grows mild, towards summer, 
they begin to get out of their holes, and croak. 

If the spring, that is, if the mild weather, begins 
early, they appear about the end of March ; but if it 
happens late, they tarry under water till late in April. 
Their places of abode are ponds and bogs of stagnant 



8 6 The Wilderness [no. 30 

water ; they are never in any flowing water. When 
many of them croak together, they make an enormous 
noise. 

Their croak exactly resembles the roaring of an ox 
or bull which is somewhat hoarse. They croak so 
loud that two people talking by the side of a pond 
cannot understand each other. They croak all to- 
gether ; then stop a little, and begin again. 

It seems as if they had a captain among them : 
for when he begins to croak, all the others follow ; 
and when he stops, the others are all silent. In day- 
time they seldom make any great noise, unless the 
sky is covered. 

The night is their croaking time ; and, when all is 
calm, you may hear them, though you are near a 
mile and a half off. When they croak, they com- 
monly are near the surface of the water, under the 
bushes, and have their heads out of the water. There- 
fore, by going slowly, one may get close up to them 
before they go away. As soon as they are quite 
under water, they think themselves safe, though the 
water be very shallow. 

Sometimes they sit at a good distance from the 
pond ; but as soon as they suspect any danger, they 
hasten with great leaps into the water. They are 
very expert at hopping, A full-grown bullfrog takes 
near three yards at one hop. I have often been told 
by the old Swedes the following story, which hap- 
pened here, at the time when the Indians lived with 
the Swedes. 

It is well known, that the Indians are excellent 
runners. I have seen them, at Governor Johnson's, 
equal the best horse in its swiftest course, and almost 
pass by it. Therefore, in order to try how well the 



N0.30] The Bullfrog 87 

bullfrogs could leap, some of the Swedes laid a wager 
with a young Indian, that he could not overtake the 
frog, provided it had two leaps before hand. 

They carried a bullfrog, which they had caught in 
a pond, upon a field, and burnt his back. The fire, 
and the Indian, who endeavored to keep close up 
to the frog, had such an effect upon the animal, 
that it made its long hops across the field, as fast as 
it could. The Indian began to pursue the frog with 
all his might at the proper time. 

The noise he made in running frightened the poor 
frog. Probably it was afraid of being tortured with 
fire again ; therefore it redoubled its leaps, and by 
that means it reached the pond before the Indian 
could overtake it. 

In some years they are more numerous than in 
others. Nobody could tell, whether the snakes had 
ever ventured to eat them, though they eat all the 
lesser kinds of frogs. The women are no friends to 
these frogs, because they kill and eat young duck- 
lings and goslings. 

Sometimes they carry off chickens that come too 
near the ponds. I have not observed that they bite 
when they are held in the hands, though they have 
Httle teeth. When they are beaten they cry out 
almost like children. I was told that some eat the 
thighs of the hind legs, and that they are very 
palatable. 



88 



The Wilderness 



[No. 31 



Rattlesnakes 
were very 
common in 
all the rough 
and stony 
parts of the 
country, but 
have now 
almost dis- 
appeared in 
settled 
regions. 



Probably 
nature 
intended the 
snake to 
frighten his 
enemies by 
the sound. 



31. Rattlesnakes 

(1756) 

I WILL give here an account of that infamous reptile, 
the rattle-snake, which is considered the most danger- 
ous of any poisonous creature known in this part of 
the world. 

The rattle-snake hardly ever measures out six feet 
in length. He has a gorgeous skin or coat, that may 
vie with any rich brocade. His summer haunt is in 
meadows and swampy grounds among long grass. 

During the winter season he harbors in the ground 
or in the sides of hills where there are craggy stones. 
They are said to He together in numbers. Their age 
may be known by the number of rings upon their tail. 

But it is certainly a mistake that the rings grow 
single, one every year. Were that the case, some 
that I have seen must have been eight or ten years 
old. But having had the curiosity to take in pieces 
one of these rattles, I found the parts which must be 
of one year's growth, to consist of two rings and a 
small tip. 

The next year there grows such another part under 
the first, which thrusts it off from the flesh, and it 
remains like a cap upon it. That protuberance which 
is next the tip holds it on. In like manner the suc- 
ceeding growths are made. 

This curious member nature has designed for giv- 
ing persons warning, when they happen unwarily to 
approach too near the snake. A man has just time 
to recollect himself, and stop his pace before he 
comes in immediate danger of a bite ; which will be 
within distance of the snake's length. 



No. 31] Rattlesnakes 8 9 

For if he lay at his full stretch before, as soon as 
any one comes near him, he draws himself in. He 
is then wound up in a close coil, with his tail pointed 
upward, and his head laid back. And he gives his 
rattle such a brisk shake, that it sounds like the 
tremulous motion of a musical chord. 

Then if the person does not stop or divert his 
course, he instantly flings out upon him. The teeth 
of this snake are curved, exquisitely fine and sharp, 
two on each side the gum. They are shut up like 
a cat's claw till when he goes to bite. 

Sometimes the mowers happen to stumble over 
them and receive no hurt ; but they always give the 
signal when they are prepared for mischief. 




AN INDIAN BOY. 



PART IV 

BIG INDIANS AND LITTLE 
INDIANS 



32. A King's Nephews and Nieces 

By Captain Arthur Barlowe (1584) 

The twenty-seventh day of April in the year 1584, 
we departed from England, with two barks well fur- 
nished with men and victuals, after receiving our last 
directions by your letters and also your commands 
delivered by yourself upon our leaving the river 
Thames. 

The second of July, we found shoal water, where 
we smelt as sweet and as strong a smell as if we had 
been in the midst of some delicate garden abounding 
with all kinds of flowers, by which scent we were 
assured, that the land could not be far distant. Keep- 
ing good watch, and bearing but slack sail, the fourth 
day of the same month we arrived upon a coast, which 
we supposed to be, a continent. We sailed along this 
coast for a hundred and twenty English miles before 
we could find any entrance or any river issuing into 
the sea. The first opening that appeared to us we 
entered, though not without some difficulty, casting 
anchor about three harquebus shot within the haven's 

91 



This account 
is a part of a 
letter written 
by Captain 
Barlowe to 
Sir Walter 
Raleigh, who 
fitted out the 
expedition. 



This makes 
the voyage 
sixty-eight 
days. 

Harquebus 
= a short 
gun, with a 
range of per- 
haps seven 
hundred feet. 



92 



Ind'i 



tans 



[No. 32 



This was 
Ocracoke 
Inlet, now in 
North 
Carolina. 

Queen 
Elizabeth of 
England. 



mouth on the left hand side. After we had given 
thanks to God for our safe arrival thither, we manned 
our boats, and went to view the land next adjoining, 
and " to take possession of the same, in the right of 
the Queen's most excellent Majesty, as rightful Queen 
and Princess of the same." This being performed, 
according to the ceremonies used in such enterprises, 
we viewed the land about us, finding it very sandy 
and low toward the water's side, but so full of grapes 
that the very beating and surge of the sea overflowed 
the fruit. 

We passed from the sea side towards the tops of 
those hills next adjoining, and from thence beheld 
the sea on both sides, to the north and to the south, 
finding no end in either direction. This land we 
found to be only an island, twenty miles long and 
nearly six miles broad. Under the bank or hill 
whereon we stood, we beheld the valleys filled with 
goodly cedar trees, and having discharged our har- 
quebus-shot, a flock of white cranes arose under us, 
with such a cry redoubled by many echoes, as might 
be made if an army of men shouted altogether. 

We remained by the side of this island two whole 
days before we saw any people of the country : on 
the third day we espied one small boat rowing towards 
us, having in it three persons. This boat came to 
the island side, four harquebus-shot from our ships, 
and two of the people remaining there, the third 
came along the shore side toward us. We were all 
on board ; he walked up and down upon the point 
of the land next to us. Then the master and the 
pilot of the " Admiral," Simon Ferdinando, and the 
Captain Philip Amadas, myself, and others rowed to 
the land. Our coming did not make this fellow show 



No. 32] 



A Chief 



93 



any fear or doubt. After he had spoken of many i.e. in a lan- 
thino:s not understood by us, we brousrht him with g^age which 

^ , -^ . they could 

his own good Uking aboard the ships, and gave him not under- 
a shirt, a hat and some other things, and made him ^^^"'^• 
taste of our wine and our meat, which he hked very 
well. After looking carefully at both barks, he de- 
parted, and went to his own boat which he had left 
in a little cove or creek nearby. As soon as he was 




INDIAN WARRIORS. 



two bow shot into the water, he fell to fishing, and in 
less than half an hour, he had laden his boat as deep 
as it could swim. With this he came again to the 
point of land, and there he divided his fish into two 
parts, pointing out one part for the ship, and the 
other for the pinnace. Thus, after he had requited The pinnace 
as far as he could the benefits he had received, he boatj'whifa 
departed out of our sight. sail. 

The next day there came unto us divers boats, and 



94 



India?ts [no. 32 



in one of them the King's brother, accompanied with 
forty or fifty men, very handvSome and goodly people, 
and in their behaviour as mannerly and civil as any 
King here = in Europe. His name was Granganimeo, and the 
chief. King is called Wingina, the country Wingandacoa, 

Raleigh and now by her Majesty, Virginia, 

named it -j-j^g King is greatly obeyed, and his brothers and 

Queen children reverenced. The King himself in person 

Elizabeth the y^g^g at the time, sorely wounded in a fight which he 
virgin queen. ^^^ ^^^ yN\\)ci the King of the next country. A day 
or two after this, we fell to trading with them, ex- 
changing some things that we had, for deer skins. 
When we showed him our whole store of merchandise, 
of all the things that he saw, a bright tin dish pleased 
him most. 

After two or three days the King's brother came 
aboard the ships and drank wine, and ate of our meat 
and of our bread, and liked it exceedingly. Then 
after a few days had passed, he brought his wife with 
him to the ships, his daughter and two or three chil- 
dren. His wife was very well favored, of medium 
stature and very bashful. She had on her back a 
long cloak of leather, with the fur side next to her 
body. About her forehead she had a band of white 
coral. In her ears she had bracelets of pearls hang- 
ing down to her waist. The rest of her women of 
the better sort had pendants of copper hanging in 
either ear, and some of the children of the King's 
brother and other noblemen, had five or six in either 
ear. He himself had upon his head a broad plate of 
gold or copper, for being unpolished we knew not 
which metal it might be, neither would he by any 
means suffer us to take it off his head. His apparel 
was Hke his wife's, only the women wear their hair 



No. 33] 



Ho77te Life 



95 



long on both sides of the head, and the men on but 
one side. They are of color yellowish, and their hair 
black for the most part, and yet we saw children who 
had very fine auburn and chestnut colored hair. 



33. Indian Home Life 

By William Strachey (1610-1612) 

The drink of the Indians is hke that of the Turks, 
clear water. For although they have grapes in 
abundance, they have not learned the use of them. 
They have not found out how to press them into 
wine. Pears or apples they have none with which 
to make cider. 

The men spend their time in fishing, hunting, wars, 
and such manlike exercises out of doors. They scorn 
to be seen in any woman's work. This is the reason 
why the women are very busy and the men so idle. 

Their fishing is often much in boats which they 
call quintans. They make one out of a tree by 
burning and scraping away the coals with bones and 
shells, till they have made it in the form of a trough. 

Instead of oars they use paddles and sticks. They 
row faster than we can in our barges. They have 
nets for fishing, which are made of the barks of cer- 
tain trees, and of deer sinews. There is a kind of 
grass out of which their women spin a very even 
thread, rolling it with their hands. 

This thread serves for many purposes. They use 
it to make coverings, to sew their garments of 
feathers, and to make their leggings. With it, also, 
they make lines for fishing. 



These are 
" dugouts " 
or wooden 
canoes ; fur- 
ther north 
birch canoes 
were used. 



96 



Indi 



lans 



[No. 33 



In England 
game laws 
forbid the 
killing of 
birds at cer- 
tain times. 
Bandy = 
hockey : 
the game 
was probably 
lacrosse. 
Football in 
England was 
very rough, 
and there 
was plenty 
of foul 
tackling. 



In the time of their hunting, they leave their habi- 
tations and gather themselves into companies ; and 
then they go to the wildest places with their families. 
There they pass their time in hunting and getting 
wild fowl. In the time of hunting every man will 
try to do his best to show his skill. For by excelling 
in the chase they obtain the favor of the women. 

While they are hunting in deserts or wildernesses 
there are commonly two or three hundred together. 
With the sunrising they call up one another and go 
forth searching for the herd of deer. When they 
have found it they encircle it with many fires. Be- 
tween the fires, they place themselves, making the 
most terrible noise that they can. The deer, fright- 
ened by the fires and the voices, betake them to their 
heels. The Indians chase them so long within that 
circle, that many times they kill six, eight, ten, or fif- 
teen in a morning. 

Hares, partridges, turkeys, fat or lean, young or 
old, even in laying or in brooding time, they devour. 
At no time do they spare any that they can catch. 

There is a kind of exercise that they have among 
them much like that which boys call bandy in Eng- 
lish. Likewise, they have the exercise of football. 
In this they only use the foot forcibly to carry the 
ball from the one to the other. They kick it to the 
goal with a kind of skill and swift footmanship, to 
excel in which is thought a great honor. But they 
never strike up one another's heels, as we do. They 
do not consider it praiseworthy to win 3. goal by such 
an advantage. 

The spare time between their sleep and meals they 
usually use in gayety, dancing, and singing. For 
their kind of music, they have different instruments. 



No. 33] Amusement 



97 



They have a kind of cane on which they pipe, a sort of 
These can hardly be sounded without great strain- ^"*^- 
ing of the breath. Upon these instruments they 
keep a certain rude time. But their chief instru- 
ments are rattles, made of small gourds or of shells. 
These mingled with their voices, sometimes twenty 
or thirty together, make such a terrible howling as 
would rather frighten than give pleasure to any man. 

The women love children very dearly. To make 
their children hardy they wash them in the coldest 
mornings in the rivers. By painting and ointments, 
they so tan their skin, that after a year or two no 
weather will hurt them. 

To practise their children in the use of their bows 
and arrows, the mother does not give them their 
breakfast in a morning until they have hit a mark 
which she sets for them to shoot at. 

So skilful do they expect the children to become, 
that the mother often throws up in the air a piece 
of moss which the boy must hit as it falls, with his 
arrow. If he does not succeed he cannot have his 
breakfast. 



98 



Indi 



tans 



[No. 34 



34. The Capture of Pocahontas, 
the Little Indian Princess 



By Raphe Hamor (1613-1614) 




It chanced that 
Powhatan's delight 
and darling, his 
daughter Pocahon- 
tas, whose fame 
has been spread 
even in England, 
took the pleasure 
to visit her friends 
at the Potomac. 
Her friends had 
been sent thither 
like shopkeepers at 



\ a fair, to exchange 



POCAHONTAS. 



The author 
of this piece 
lived among 
the Indians. 
Powhatan 
was the most 
powerful 
Indian living 
near the 
English in 



some of her father's 
commodities for 
those of this re- 
gion. She came 
in the absence of 
Captain Argall. 
When she had been staying here some three months 
or longer, it happened that Captain Argall arrived 
in search either of hope or profit. Pocahontas, desir- 
ous to renew her familiarity with the English, and 
delighting to see them, said she would gladly visit 
them, keeping herself unknown, perhaps because she 
was afraid of being seized. No sooner had Captain 



No. 34] 



PocahoTitas 



99 



Argall received intelligence of her, than he planned 
with an old friend and adopted brother of his, called 
Japazeus, how and by what means he might procure 
her as a captive. 

He told the Indian that now or never was the time 
to give pleasure to his friend, if he really possessed 
that love of which he had made profession. Captain 
Argall told him that as a ransom for Pocahontas he 
might recover some of our English men and arms, 
now in the possession of her father. He promised to 
use her fairly and with gentle treatment. 

Japazeus, fully assured that his brother would use 
her courteously as he promised, gave in turn his word 
that he would use his best endeavors and secrecy to 
accomplish this desire. And thus he wrought it, mak- 
ing his own wife an instrument to aid his plot. For 
Japazeus agreed that his wife, Pocahontas, and him- 
self would accompany his brother. Captain Argall, to 
the waterside. Then, according to the plan, his wife 
should feign a great and longing desire to go aboard 
the ship, for although it had been in port three or 
four times before, she had never seen it. She was 
to be earnest with her husband, begging him to give 
her permission. Then he was to seem angry with 
her, and to pretend that her request was needless, 
especially since she had women with her to bear her 
company ; and she in turn was to pretend to take it 
unkindly, feigning to weep ; whereupon her husband, 
seeming to pity those counterfeit tears, was to give 
her leave to go aboard, only if it pleased Pocahontas 
to accompany her. 

Now came the greatest labor, to win Pocahontas to 
go with her, for perhaps she might feel responsible 
on account of her father's wrong treatment of the 



the colony 
of Virginia. 
Argall was 
governor. 

Japazeus was 
an Indian, 
who had 
gone through 
a ceremony 
of brother- 
hood with 
Argall. 



The plot 
was that 
Japazeus's 
wife should 
make it seem 
a favor to her 
for Pocahon- 
tas to go on 
board. 



LofC. 



loo Indians [N0.34 

English, even though she supposed herself unknown. 
By earnest persuasions, Pocahontas assented, and 
forthwith aboard they went. 

The best cheer that could be made was seasonably 
provided. To supper they went, merry on all hands, 
especially Japazeus and his wife, who, to express their 
joy, would once in a while tread upon Captain Argall's 
foot, as if to say, *' 'Tis done ; she is your own." Sup- 
per ended, Pocahontas was lodged in the gunner's 
rooms, where Japazeus and his wife left her, because 
they desired to hold a conference with "their brother." 
This conference was only to acquaint him by what 
stratagem they had betrayed his prisoner. 

After this discourse they went to sleep, and Poca- 
hontas as well, mistrusting nothing of their plot. 
Nevertheless, a little frightened and anxious to re- 
turn, she was up first in the morning and hastened to 
Japazeus, urging him to be gone. But Captain Argal) 
well rewarded him secretly with a small copper kettle 
and some other less valuable trifles, which he so 
highly valued that doubtless he would have betrayed 
his own father for them. 

Argall permitted both Japazeus and his wife to re- 
turn on shore, and in the hearing of others he told 
Japazeus as he went away that he should keep Poca- 
hontas because the father of Pocahontas held as pris- 
oners eight of our Englishmen, many swords, firearms, 
and other tools which he had at several times by 
treacherous murders taken from our men. 

Whereupon she began to be exceedingly pensive 
and discontented, although still ignorant of the 
treachery of Japazeus ; in outward appearance,^ he 
was no less unhappy than she was herself that he 
should be the means of her captivity. 



No. 35] Powhatan i o i 

35. In Powhatan's Country 

By Raphe Hamor (1613-1614) 

Much ado there was to persuade Pocahontas to be A continua- 
patient. With extraordinary courteous usas^e they ^^°" 5*^ *^^ 

previous 

accomplished this Httle by Httle, and so to James- story. 
town she was brought, and a messenger to her father 
was forewith despatched to tell him that his only 
daughter was in the hands and possession of the Eng- 
lish. There she was to be kept until such time as he 
would ransom her with our men, swords, arms, and 
other tools treacherously taken from us. 

The news was unwelcome and troublesome to him, Probably 
partly for the love he bare to his daus^hter and partly tiieyhad run 

,1 1 , 1 . . r , away to the 

to the love he bare to our men his prisoners, or whom Indians. 
he made great use although with us they seemed un- 
fitted for any employment. And those swords and 
firearms of ours, though they were of no use to him, 
delighted him just to look upon. 

He could not without long advice and deliberation 
with his council, resolve upon anything, and it is 
really true that we heard nothing from him till three 
months afterwards. Then by persuasion of others 
he returned seven of our men, and with each of them 
an unserviceable musket. By them he sent us word 
that whenever we pleased to deliver his daughter, he 
would give us in satisfaction of the injuries he had 
done to us, and for the rest of our firearms broken 
and stolen from him, would pay five hundred bushels 
of corn and be forever friends with us. 

The men and arms we received in part payment, 
and returned to him for an answer that his daughter 
was very well, and was kindly treated, and should be 



I o 2 Indians [No. 35 

well treated, however he dealt with us : but we could 
not believe that the rest of our arms were either lost 
or stolen from him and therefore until he returned 
them all, we would not by any means deliver his 
daughter. Then it should be at his choice whether 
he would establish peace or continue enemies with us. 

This answer as it seemed did not please him very 
well for we heard no more from him till last March. 
Then with Captain Argall's ship and some other ves- 
sels belonging to the colony. Sir Thomas Dale with 
an hundred and fifty men well equipped went up into 
Powhatan's river, where his chief habitations were. 
We carried with us his daughter, either to move them 
to fight for her, if such were their courage and bold- 
ness, or to restore the remainder of our goods, that is 
our swords, arms, and tools. 

We proceeded and had entered the narrows of the 
river, where the channel lay within shot of the 
shore, when from an ambush they let their arrows 
fly amongst us in our ship. We were justly pro- 
voked, and forthwith manned our boats, went ashore 
and burned in that very place some forty houses ; and 
of the things we found therein, we made free booty 
and pillage. As they themselves afterwards con- 
fessed us, we wounded and killed five or six of their 
men. With this revenge, we satisfied ourselves for 
their presumption in shooting at us. 

The critical time now came ; we went the higher 
up ttie river, and anchored near Powhatan's resi- 
dence. Here at a town called Matchot were as- 
sembled about four hundred men well appointed with 
their bows and arrows to welcome us. They dared 
us to come ashore, a thing which we had planned 
before ; so ashore we went. 



No. 36] Pocahontas' s Wedding 103 

36. The Wedding of Pocahontas 

By Raphe Hamor (1613-1614) 

Two of Powhatan's sons came to us who were very Continuation 
desirous to see their sister, there present on the shore prevfous 
with us. They rejoiced greatly at the sight of Poca- story. 
hontas and at her well-being, for they had suspected 
that she would be badly treated, although they had 
often heard the contrary. They promised that they 
would persuade their father to redeem her and to con- 
clude a firm peace forever with us. Upon this resolu- 
tion the two brothers went on board our boat with us. 

We had already despatched two Englishmen, Mas- 
ter John Rolfe and Master Sparkes to acquaint their 
father with the business in hand. The next day 
these men returned saying that they had not been 
admitted to Powhatan's presence ; but they had 
spoken with his brother Apachamo, his successor, 
who had already the command of all the people ; 
and promised his best endeavors to further our just 
request. 

It was then April and the time of year called us 
to our business at home, to prepare ground and to 
plant corn for our winter's provisions ; so we de- 
parted upon these terms, giving the Indians respite 
till harvest, to decide what was best for them to do. 
We told them clearly that if a final agreement were 
not made between us before that time, we should re- 
turn again and destroy or take away all their corn, 
burn all the houses upon that river, leave not a fish- 
ing weir standing nor a canoe in any creek there- 
abouts, and kill as many of them as we could. 

Long before this time, a gentleman of approved 



I04 



Indi 



tans 



[No. 37 



The James- 
town settle- 
ment was 
commonly 
spoken of as 
the Planta- 
tion. 



behavior and honest carriage, Master John Rolfe, 
fell in love with Pocahontas and she with him. Of 
this fact I made Sir Thomas Dale aware by a letter 
from Master John Rolfe, even while we were confer- 
ring and making conditions with Powhatan's men. 
In the letter Rolfe begged Dale's advice and assist- 
ance in his love, if it seemed to him for the good of 
the Plantation. Pocahontas herself told her brothers 
about it. Sir Thomas Dale's approval of the match 
was the only reason why he was so mild amongst 
Powhatan's people. Otherwise he would not have 
departed from their river, without other conditions. 

The rumor of this intended marriage soon came to 
Powhatan's knowledge and was acceptable to him, as 
appeared by his sudden consent thereto. Some ten 
days after he sent an old uncle of hers, named Opa- 
chisco, to give her away in the church as his deputy, 
and two of his sons to see the marriage solemnized. 
This was done about the fifth of April, and ever since 
then we have had friendly relations not only with 
Powhatan himself, but also with his subjects round 
about us ; so that now I see no reason why the colony 
should not thrive apace. 



37. Children of Moshup turned 
into Fishes 



By Thomas Cooper (1620) 



The first Indian who came to Martha's Vineyard 

was brought there with his dog on a cake of ice. 

years old told When he came to Gay Head, he found a very large 



A half-blood 
ed Indian 
about sixty 



No. 37] An Indian Story 105 



and 

fire and roast them, 
bones of the whales 
tired of staying 



was 



man whose name was Moshup. He had a wife and 
five children, four sons and one daughter. 

He lived in a den. He used to catch whales 
then pull up trees and make a 
The coals of the trees and the 
are now to be seen. After he 
here, he told his children to go and play ball on a 
beach that joined No Man's Land to Gay Head, 

He then made a mark with his toe across the beach 
at each end. He made it so deep that the water 
came in and cut away the beach, so that his children 
were in fear of drowning. 

They took their sister up, and held her out of the 
water. He told them to act as if they were going to 
kill whales, and they were all turned into fishes. 

The sister was dressed in large stripes. The father 
gave them a strict order always to be kind to her. 
His wife mourned the loss of her children so greatly 
that he threw her away. She fell upon Seconet, near 
the rocks, where she lived some time, begging from 
all who passed on the water. After a while she was 
changed into a stone. The entire shape of her re- 
mained for many years. 

But after the English came, some of them broke 
off the arms and head ; but most of the body is there 
to this day. Moshup went away, no one knew 
where. He never talked with the Indians, but he 
was kind to them, by sending whales ashore for them 
to eat. But after there grew to be too many Indians 
around him^ he left them, 



these stories. 
He said they 
were told to 
him by his 
grandmother 
who was a 
strong girl 
when the 
English first 
came among 
her people. 



io6 



Indians 



[No. 38 



Passaconna- 
way was 
chieftain of 
the Penna- 
cook Indians, 
in the 
Merrimac 
River. No 
one set down 
his speech at 
the time, but 
this is the 
spirit of his 
words. 

At the doors 
of the lodges 
the Indians 
set up poles, 
ornamented 
with the 
scalps of 
those whom 
they had 
killed. 

I.e. they went 
west and 
attacked the 
fierce 
Iroquois. 

The English 
muskets 
seemed 
strange to the 
Indians on 
account of 
the flash of 
light and 
noise made 
when one 
was fired. 



38. A Chieftain's Lament 

By Passaconnavvay (1660) 

Hearken to the words of your father. I am an 
old oak that has withstood the storms of more than a 
hundred winters. Leaves and branches have been 
stripped from me by the winds and frosts. My eyes 
are dim. My limbs totter. I must soon fall ! 

But when young and strong, my bow could be bent 
by no young man of the Pennacooks. My arrows 
would pierce a deer at a hundred yards, and I could 
bury my hatchet in a sapling up to the handle. 

No wigwam then had so many furs. No pole had 
so many scalp locks as Passaconnaway's ! Then I 
delighted in war. The whoop of the Pennacooks 
was heard upon the Mohawk — and no voice so loud 
as Passaconnaway's. The scalps upon the pole of 
my wigwam told the story of Mohawk suffering. 

The English came, they seized our lands ; I sat me 
down at Pennacook. They followed upon my foot- 
steps. I made war upon them, but they fought with 
fire and thunder. My young men were swept down 
before me, when no one was near them. 

I tried magic against them, but they still increased 
and got the better of me and mine. I gave place 
to them and came to my beautiful island of Natti- 
cook. 

I, that can make the dry leaf turn green and live 
again — I, that can take the rattlesnake in my palm 
as I would a worm, without harm — I, who have had 
communion with the Great Spirit dreaming and awake 
— I am powerless before the pale faces. The oak 
will soon break before the whirlwind. It shivers and 



No. 39] 



A L,ament 



107 



shakes even now. Soon its trunk will be fallen — 
the ant and the worm will sport upon it ! 

Then think, my children, of what I say. I com- 
mune with the Great Spirit. He whispers to me 
now : "■ Tell your people peace, peace, is the only 
hope of your race. I have given fire and thunder 
to the pale faces for weapons. I have made them 
plentier than the leaves of the forest, and still shall 
they increase ! 

These meadows shall turn with the plough. These 
forests shall fall by the axe. The pale faces shall 
live upon your hunting-grounds, and make their vil- 
lages upon your fishing-places ! " The Great Spirit 
says this and it must be so ! 

We are few and powerless before them ! We must 
bend before the storm ! The wind blows hard ! The 
old oak trembles ! Its branches are gone ! Its sap 
is frozen ! It bends ! It falls ! Peace, peace with 
the white men — is the command of the Great Spirit 
— and the wish — the last wish of Passaconnaway. 



39. Indian School-Boys 

By Captain Daniel Gookin (1674) 



PART I 



That which I shall here offer, may be included 
under two heads. First, that our utmost efforts be 
used, with all industry and diligence, that the Indians, 
especially the children and youth, may be taught to 
speak, read, and write, the English tongue. 

For this end I propose, first, that as many of their 



Apprentices 
were placed 
by their 
parents or 
guardians 
with master 
workmen, 
who agreed 



io8 



Indi. 



lans 



[No. 39 



to teach them children as may be procured, with the free consent 
trades or ^^ their parents and relations, be placed in sober and 

household ^ ^ 

work. Christian famiUes, as apprentices, until the youths 

and the maids are eighteen 



are twenty-one years, 




INDIAN WRITINGS. 



years of age : the boys to be instructed in the trades 
practised by their masters ; and the girls in good 
housewifery of all sorts : with this provision in all 
contracts and indentures, that they shall be taught to 
read and write the English tongue at the cost of their 
masters. And this may be easily accomplished, be- 
cause servants are scarce in New England. The 
ordering of this affair must be committed to the man- 
agement of prudent persons, who have an interest in 
the Indians, and who may be able, by their authority 
and wisdom, so to argue the case with the Indians, 
as to convince them that such a plan is for their chil- 
dren's good. For Indians are generally so indulgent 
to their children, that they are not easily persuaded 
to give them over to the English. 

Secondly, another way for bringing this matter to 
pass, is by setting up one or two free schools, to teach 
them to read and write English. But this thing hath 



No. 39] School-Boys 109 

some difficulty in it ; partly because a person suitable 
to be a schoolmaster will not be willing to leave the 
English society, and to live constantly among the 
Indians, as such a work would require. There is also 
the question as to how the Indian children that are 
sent to school, shall be provided with food and cloth- 
ing, without charge on the Indian property of the 
Indian tribe. The only exception to this should be a A blue coat 
blue coat for each of them once a year, which will 
not cost much, but will greatly encourage the Indians. 

For the accomplishing of this matter for the Ind- J°^" ^'^°*' 
ians within the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, I have missionary 
consulted and advised with Mr. Eliot; and we both to the 
joined in a proposal to the honored commissioners of tranTiator'of 
the United Colonies, at their last meeting. I have the Bible into 
consulted also with most of the principal rulers and ^^s'^^^- 
teachers of the praying Indians, and they have gen- /.^.Christian 
erally agreed and approved the expedient following. 



was a blue 
blanket. 



Indians. 



settlement. 



PART II 

There is an Indian village, within twenty-eight or 
thirty miles from Boston, westward upon the road to 
Connecticut, called Okommakamesit, otherwise Marl- 
borough, which lieth very near the centre of most of 
the praying villages. This Indian plantation joineth Plantation 
unto an English town called Marlborough ; so that 
the English and Indian plantations bear the same 
name. In this Indian plantation there is a piece of 
fertile land, containing above one hundred and fifty 
acres, upon which the Indians have lived for some 
little time, and they have planted apple-trees there- 
upon which bear an abundance of fruit. 

This parcel of land, with the addition of twenty 



I 10 



Indi. 



lans 



[No. 39 



Two hun- 
dred pounds 



In Massa- 
chusetts the 
state legisla- 
ture has 
always been 
called the 
General 
Court. 



acres of the nearest meadow, and a woodland of 
about fifty acres, is well worth two hundred pounds 
in money. Yet the Indians will wilHngly devote it to 
this work ; for it brings little or no profit to them, nor 
is it ever like to do so. The Englishmen's cattle 
devour all in it, because it lies open and unfenced ; 
and while the Indians planted there, it was in a way 
fenced by them ; yet by their improvidence and bad 
fences, they reaped little benefit in those times ; and 
that was one cause of their removal. 

Now I propose that the parcel of land above de- 
scribed, be set apart for an Indian free school, and 
confirmed by an act of the General Court of this 
colony, for this end forever : and that it be fenced 
with a stone wall into two or three enclosures for cow 
pastures. This may be done easily, because there 
are stones enough at hand upon it. Then to build a 
convenient house for a schoolmaster and his family, 
and under the same roof may be room for a school : 
also to build some outhouses for hay, and cattle. The 
cost of all this will not amount to above two hundred 
pounds in money. When this is done, the place will 
be fit to accommodate a schoolmaster and his family, 
without any other salary than the use of this farm. 

Moreover, it is very probable, that the English 
people of Marlborough, will gladly and readily send 
their children to the same school, paying the school- 
master for them. This will better his income and be 
good for them, for they have no school in that place 
at the present. In regard to this plan, I have heard 
some of the most prudent white people lament ; but 
it is expensive to raise a school and support a school- 
master for twenty or thirty children, and the inhabi- 
tants are backward in doing it. 



No. 39] A School III 

The laws of the colony require every village con- i.e. since 
sistinfi^ of fifty families, to provide a school to teach they were not 

1-1-1-1 1 • 1 1 1 r compelled 

the Jinglish tongue and to write ; but these people of by law to 
Marlborough, because they have not quite fifty fami- ^^^p "p ^ 
lies, take that low advantage so as to ease their saved thei7 
purses of this common charge. But as soon as this money by 
school herein proposed, is set up, it will be to their Jiff c^om'mon 
interest to put their children to it, because this will be duty, 
the cheapest and easiest way that they can take. 

By my plan the schoolmaster will reap an advan- 
tage in his neighborhood, and be in communion with 
the Enghsh church at Marlborough. This will tend 
to remove the first difficulty. Besides, the English 
and Indian children will learn together in the same 
school, and that will promote the Indians' learning to 
speak the Enghsh tongue. Of this we have had 
experience, when Indian children were taught by 
English schoolmasters at Roxbury and Cambridge, 
in former years. Then several Indian children were 
kept at those schools. A second difficulty is this : 
how shall these Indian children, though they have 
their schooling free, be provided with diet and cloth- Diet = 
ing, without pubhc charge t I answer, that I have °^^ ' 
conferred with several of the most prudent and judi- 
cious Indians of the other towns, who think there will 
be no difficulty to provide board for their children, 
by procuring it at reasonable rates from the Indians, 
their countrymen, who inhabit Marlborough. And 
as for clothing, a little serves them, and that of a 
poor sort, and their parents can provide it, especially 
if the Honorable Corporation order them a blue coat 
once a year in the beginning of winter, and also pro- 
vide them with books. 



112 Indians [no. 40 

40. Rescued from Captivity 

By Increase Mather (1677) 

Several per- BETWEEN sunset and dark the Indians came upon 
sons who yg Another man and I who were toerether ran 

have been , ^ , . -X,, 

taken pris- away at the outcry the Indians made. Ihey were 

oners by the shoutiug and shootiug at some others of the English 

touching that were close by. We took for our place of safety 

stories con- a swamp that was near, 
cerning the r^^ Indians seeins: us so near them, ran after us 

goodness ^ ' 

of God in and shot many guns at us. Three shots were fired 
carrying upon me, whilc the Indians were quite close to me. 

them through ^ iitti 

many dan- As the swamp was muddy I slipped and fell down ; 
gers. and at whereupon one of the enemy stepped up to me, with 
themln'a^ his hatchct lifted up to knock me on the head, 
safe place He thought I was SO hurt by my fall that I could 

?on^e m^n's^ ^^^ S^ any farther. As it happened, I had a pistol 
story in his with me, which I pointed at the Indian. He stepped 
own words, b^^k thinking it was loaded, but it was not. He said 
if I would give myself up, I should have no hurt ; he 
added that the woods were full of Indians. 

So I gave myself up and by three of them was led 
away. Two other Indians came running to us ; and 
one lifted up the end of his gun to knock me on the 
head. But the other put up his hand and stopped 
the blow, and said I was his friend. 

They now took me, bound me, and led me away. 
Soon I was brought into the company of other cap- 
tives that were that day brought away from the town 
of Hatfield. It was cause for both sorrow and joy to 
see the other people : for company in such a sad con- 
dition was a comfort, though of little help in any way. 
Then we were all bound and led away in the night 



No. 40] Captives 113 

over the mountains. Through dark and awful places, 
we went at least four miles, before we found a place 
for a brief rest. This was in a dismal place of woods 
on the side of the mountain. 

We were kept bound all that night. The Indians 
kept waking, and we had little mind to sleep in this 
night's travel. The Indians scattered, and as they 
went made strange noises, as of wolves, and owls, 
and other wild beasts. This was so that they would 
not lose each other, or be discovered by the Eng- 
lish. 

About the break of day, we marched again and 
went over a great river. There we rested, and the 
Indians marked out upon trays the number of their 
prisoners, as their custom is. 

Here I was again in great danger. A quarrel arose 
about me over a question as to whose captive I was ; 
for three took me. I thought I must be killed to end 
the trouble ; so when they put it to me, whose I was, 
I said three Indians took me. So they agreed to have 
all a share in me ; and I had now three masters. That 
one was my chief master who laid hands on me first, 
and so I was fallen into the hands of the worst of all 
the company. 

In this place they gave us some food which they 
had seized from the EngHsh. 

The next night found us in another dismal place. A common 
We were then staked down and spread out on our Pjacjiceof 

, 1 1 111-1 1 ^h^ Indians, 

backs ; and so we lay all night, yes, so we lay many to prevent 

nights. ^heir caplives 

They told me their law was that we should he ing"^ ^^'^^^ 
so nine nights. By that time, it was thought, we 
should no longer know where we were. The manner 
of staking down was this : our arms and legs stretched 

I 



114 India7ts [No. 40 

out were staked down fast, and a cord was about our 
necks, so that we could not stir. 

The next day we crossed the river again, and there 
we took up our quarters for a long time. We were 
now so many miles away, that the Indians were quite 
out of all fear of the English. But they were now in 
great fear of other tribes of Indians. Here they built 
a long wigwam. 

Here they had a great dance, as they call it, and 
decided to burn three of us. They had got bark to 
do it with, and as I understood afterwards, I was one 
that was to be burnt. Though I knew not which was 
to be burnt, yet I knew some were intended for that : 
so much I understood of their language. The next 
day when we were to be burnt, our master and some 
others took our part, and so the evil was prevented 
in this place. 

Here I had a shirt brought to me to make. One 
of my Indian masters said it should be made this way, 
a second said another way, a third his way. I told 
them I would make it the way my chief master said. 
Then one Indian struck me on the face with his fist. 
I suddenly rose up in anger ready to strike too : upon 
this there was a great hubbub. I had to humble my- 
self to my master and so that matter ended. 

While we were here one of the English captives 
made his escape from them ; and when the news of 
his escape came, we were all called in and bound. 
One of the Indians, a captain among them, and always 
our great friend, met me coming in : he told me about 
the run-away. The Indians were very angry, and 
spoke of burning us. They held court, and it was 
decided that the Indian that let the run-away go was 
the person to blame. So no harm was done to us. 



No. 40] Captives 115 

While we lingered here food grew scarce. One 
bear foot must serve five of us for a whole day. Then 
we parted into two companies. Some went one way 
and some another way. We went over a great moun- 
tain. We were eight days going over it, and travelled 
very hard. Every day we had either snow or rain. 
Here also we lacked food. 

We came to a lake and stayed there a great while 
to make canoes to go over the lake. Here I was 
almost frozen and here we almost starved. All the 
Indians went hunting but got nothing. 

Then they wished the English to pray and see what 
the Englishman's God could do. So we prayed. The 
Indians came believingly, night and morning, to our 
prayers. Next day they got bears. Then they would 
have us give thanks to God at meals. But after a 
while they grew tired of this, and the chief stopped it. 

Then a storm overtook us. And I was for several 
days without food. When I came to travel in the ice 
I soon tired. Two Indians ran away ; and one only 
was left. He would carry me a while and then I 
would walk a while. He carried me to a Frenchman's 
house, and set me down. There they gave me food 
and drink and sent for the doctor, who said he could 
cure me. 

My Indian master was in want of money, and 
pawned me to the white man for fourteen beaver 
skins. But he could not get the beavers, and so I 
was sold. But by being thus sold, I was in God's 
good tim3 set at Hberty and returned to my friends in 
New England. 



ii6 



Indians 



[No. 41 




41. The Pipe of Peace 

By Monsieur Jontel (1679) 

While we 
halted on the 
bank of a river 
to eat, we heard 
the tinkhng of 
some small 
bells. This 
made us look 
about and we 
spied an Indian 
with a naked 
sword-blade in 
his hand. It 
was adorned 
with feathers 
of several colors, and two large hawks' bells, which 
made the noise we had heard. 

He made signs for us to come to him, and gave us 
to understand that he was sent by the leaders of the 
Indians to meet us, and bring us to their village. He 
caressed us in a strange way. I noticed that he took 
pleasure in ringing the hawks' bells. 

Having travelled a while with him, we saw a dozen 
other Indians coming towards us. They made much 
of us and conducted us to the village, to the chief's 
cottage. There we found dried bear-skins laid on the 
ground. They made us sit on these. We were then 
treated with eatables, and a throng of women came to 
see us. 

The next day the elders came to visit us. They 
brought us two buffalo hides, the skins of four others, 



PIPE OF PEACE. 



No. 41] 



Friendship 



117 



one white wild goat's skin, all of them well dried. 
They also gave us four bows. These things they 
gave in return for the present we had before made 
them. The chief and another Indian came again some 
time after, bringing two loaves, the finest and the 
best we had yet seen. 

Towards evening, we were entertained with a cere- 
mony we had not seen before. A company of elders, 
with some young men and women, came to our cot- 
tage in a body, singing as loud as they could roar. 
The foremost had a calumet, so they call a very long 
sort of tobacco-pipe, adorned with several sorts of 
feathers. When they had sung a while, before our 
cottage, they entered it, still singing on for about a 
quarter of a hour. 

After that they took our priest, whom they consid- 
ered our chief, and led him in solemn manner out of 
the cottage, holding him under the arms. When they 
were come to a place they had ready, one of them 
laid a great handful of grass on his feet. Two others 
brought clean 
water in an earthen 
dish and washed 
his face. Then 
they made him sit 
down on a skin, 
put there for the 
purpose. 

When the priest 
was seated, the 
elders took their 
places, sitting 
round about him. 
The master of the weapons of war, 




I I 8 Indians [no. 41 

ceremonies fixed in the ground two little wooden forks. 
He laid a stick across these ; all the things were 
painted red. He placed on them a buffalo hide dried, 
a goat's skin over that, and then laid the pipe thereon. 

The song was begun again, the women joining in 
the chorus. The concert was made louder by great 
hollow gourds, in which there were large gravel 
stones. 

The Indians struck upon these, keeping time with 
the notes of the choir. And the most amusing of all 
was that one of the Indians placed himself behind 
our priest, to hold him up ; at the same time he 
shook and dandled him from side to side, doing all 
in time with the music. 

The concert was hardly ended, when the master of 
the ceremonies brought two maids, one having in her 
hand a sort of collar, and the other an otter's skin. 
These they placed on the wooden forks, at the ends 
of the pipe. Then he made them sit down on each 
side of our priest, facing each other and with their 
feet spread out on the ground. 

Then one of the elders fastened a dyed feather to 
the back part of the priest's head, tying it to his hair. 
The singing went on all that time. But the priest 
grew tired of all this and made signs to us. We 
made it known to the chief that the priest was not 
well. So two of the Indians took hold of him under 
the arms and led him back to the cottage. They 
made signs to him to take a rest. 

This was at about nine in the evening and the Ind- 
ians spent all that night singing. In the morning 
they went again to the priest, took him again out of 
the cottage, with the same ceremony, but made hinj 
sit down while the singing was going on. 



No. 42] Pipe of Peace 1 1 g 

Then the master of the ceremonies took the pipe, 
filled it with tobacco and lighted it, next he offered 
it to the priest ; but he drew back and came forward 
six times before he gave it to him. Having at last 
put it in his hands, the priest made motions as if he 
were smoking, and gave it back to them. Then they 
made us all smoke round, every one of them in his 
turn, the music still going on. 

The sun was growing very hot, and the bare headed 
priest made signs that it did him harm. Then at last 
they stopped singing and took him back into the cot- 
tage. They took the pipe and put it into a case made 
of wild goat's skin, with the two wooden forks and 
the red stick that lay across them. All of these one 
of the elders offered the priest. 

They told him that he might pass through all the 
Indian nations which were their friends. Because he 
had this sign of peace, he would every where meet 
with kindness. This was the first place where we 
saw the calumet, or pipe of peace. 



42. Saving a Flock of Children 

By Daniel Neal (1697) 

All the plans of the Enghsh during the year 1696 
seemed to be upset and nothing but murmurings and 
complaints were to be heard from one end of the 
Massachusetts province to the other. The Indians 
on the other hand were strangely exalted with their 
late success and threatened to ruin the whole country 
during the next summer. In the meantime they 
posted themselves so advantageously that it was 



I 2 o Indians [no. 42 

hardly safe for the people on the frontiers to stir out 
of their houses. They killed many people who were 
at work in their fields. To crown the calamities of 
the year there was a very great scarcity of all sorts 
of grain, and the poor were ready to break out into 
riot for want of bread. 

In the winter the enemy were pretty quiet, but upon 
the fifteenth of March, they made a descent upon the 
outskirts of Haverhill, burnt about half a dozen houses 
and captured thirty-nine persons. Among the prison- 
ers was Hannah Dunston, who was a very brave woman. 
At this time she was weak and sick in her bed with 
only her nurse and eight small children in the house, 
when the Indians surrounded it. Her husband was at 
work in the field and seeing the enemy at a distance 
he ran home and bade seven of his eight children to 
get away as fast as they could to some garrison in 
the town. He then informed his wife of her danger, 
but before she could rise the enemy were so near that 
her husband despaired of being able to carry her off. 
He took his horse and his firearms, resolving to live 
or die with his children. He overtook them about 
forty rods from his house and drove them before him 
like a flock of sheep as fast as their little legs would 
carry them till they got to a place of safety about a 
mile or two from his house. The Indians pursued 
him all the while, but he kept in the rear of his little 
flock, and when any of the Indians came within reach 
of his gun, he aimed at them and they made their 
retreat. 



No. 43] Children at Home 121 

43. Indian Children at Home 

By John Fontaine (1715) 

After breakfast, I went down to the Saponey 
Indian town, which is about a musket-shot from the 
fort. I walked round to view it. It lies in a plain 
by the riverside. The houses join all the one to the 
other, and altogether make a circle. The walls are 
large pieces of timber, squared, and sharpened at 
the lower end, which are put down two feet in the 
ground, and stand about seven feet above the 
ground. These posts are laid as close as possible 
the one to the other. When they are all fixed after 
this manner, they make a roof with rafters, and cover 
the house with oak or hickory bark, which they strip 
off in great flakes, and lay it so closely that no rain 
can come in. 

Some Indian houses are covered in a circular man- 
ner, by getting long saplings, sticking each end in 
the ground, and so covering them with bark. For 
entering into this town or circle of houses there are 
three ways or passages of about six feet wide, be- 
tween two of the houses. All the doors are on the 
inside of the ring, and the ground is very level 
within, making a place which is in common, for all 
the people to divert themselves. 

In the centre of the circle is a great stump of a 
tree. I asked the reason they left that standing, and 
they informed me it was for one of their head men 
to stand upon when he had anything of consequence 
to relate to them, so that being raised, he might the 
better be heard. 

The Indian women bind their children to a board 



122 



Indi^ 



tans 



[No. 43 



that is cut after the shape of the child. There are 
two pieces at the bottom of this board to tie the two 
legs of the child to. The head or top of the board 
is round, and there is a hole through the top of it for 

a string to be 
passed through, 
so that when the 
women tire of 
holding them, or 
have a mind to 
work, they hang 
the board to the 
limb of a tree, or 
to a pin in a post 
for that purpose. 
There the chil- 
dren swing about 
and divert them- 
selves, out of the 
reach of anything 
that may hurt 
them. They are 
kept in this way 
till nearly two 
years old, which 
I believe is the 
reason they are 
all so straight, 
and so few of 
them lame or odd- 
shaped. 

Their houses are pretty large, they have no garrets, 
and no other light than the door, and that which 
comes from the hole in the top of the house, to let 





INDIAN MONEY. 



No. 43] htdians at Home 123 

out the smoke. They make their fires always in the 
middle of the house. The chief of their household 
goods is a pot, and they have also some wooden 
dishes and trays, which they make themselves. They 
seldom have anything to sit upon, but squat upon the 
ground. They have small divisions in their houses 
to sleep in, which they make of mats made of bull- 
rushes. 

They have bedsteads, raised about two feet from 
the ground, upon which they lay bear and deer skins, 
and all the covering they have is a blanket. These 
people have no sort of tame creatures, but live en- 
tirely upon their hunting and the corn which their 
wives cultivate. They live as lazily and miserably as 
any people in the world. 

Between the town and the river, upon the river- Watties = 
side, there are several little huts built with wattles, in 
the form of an oven, with a small door in one end of 
it. These wattles are plastered on the outside very ^ut 
closely with clay ; they are big enough to hold a man, 
and are called sweating-houses. 

When they have any sickness, they get ten or 
twelve pebble stones which they heat in the fire, and 
when they are red-hot they carry them into these 
little huts. The sick man or woman goes in with 
only a blanket, and they shut the door. 

There they sit and sweat until they are no more 
able to support it, and then they go out and immedi- 
ately jump into the water over head and ears, and 
this is the remedy they have for all distempers. 

To-day the governor sent for all the young boys, 
and they brought with them their bows. He got an 
axe, which he stuck up, and made them all shoot by 
turns at the eye of the axe, which was about twenty 



small 
branches 
woven in and 



12 4 Indians [no. 43 

yards distant. Knives and looking-glasses were the 
prizes for which they shot, and they were very dex- 
trous at this exercise, and often shot through the eye 
of the axe. This diversion continued about an hour. 

The governor then asked the boys to dance a war 
dance, so they all prepared for it, and made a great 
ring. The musician came and sat himself in the 
middle of the ring. All the instrument he had was 
a piece of board and two small sticks. The board 
he set upon his lap, and began to sing a doleful tune ; 
and by striking on the board with his sticks, he ac- 
companied his voice. He made several antic motions, 
and sometimes shrieked hideously, which was an- 
swered by the boys. As the men sung, so the boys 
danced all round, endeavoring who could outdo the 
one the other in antic motions and hideous cries, the 
movements answering in some way to the time of 
the music. All that I could remark by their actions 
was, that they were representing how they attacked 
their enemies, and relating one to the other how 
many of the other Indians they had killed, and how 
they did it, making all the motions in this dance as 
if they were actually in the action. 

By this lively representation of their warring, one 
may see the base way they have of surprising and mur- 
dering the one the other, and their inhuman manner 
of murdering all the prisoners, and what terrible cries 
they have, they who are conquerors. After the dance 
was over, the governor treated all the boys, but they 
were so Httle used to have a stomach full, that they 
simply devoured their victuals. So this day ended. 

The next day after breakfast we assembled our- 
selves, and read the Common Prayer. With us were 
eight of the Indian boys, who answered very well to 



No. 44] Magic Bears 125 

the prayers, and understood what was read. After 
prayers we dined, and in the afternoon we walked 
abroad to see the land, which is well timbered and 
very good. We returned to the fort and supped. 



44. The Indian Boy and the 
Magic Bears 

The youngest of the three brothers now decided to This is a 

go away, because both he and his sister feared that the ^^°7 '°^^ ^y 

surviving bears would visit them and do them injury in ^^^ ^^^ 

revenge for what the boy hunter had done to their |imes; but it 

people. The sister urged her brother to go, and gave such^sfories 

him a stone ornament which she wore in her hair, and as were told 

a large handful of blueberries. The boy hunter still ^^°^"dthe 

*=> J campfires of 

had four arrows. These things he was to use as she the Indians 
instructed him, at a time which would come, when whom our 
every other means of saving his life failed. Then he visited, 
started away in a direction new to him, to find a place 
where he might live in safety. 

While he was going along slowly one day, he heard 
behind him a pecuHar sound, as of many footsteps. 
Looking back, he beheld some bears following him, 
and he at once realized that they had discovered his 
trail, and that they were now in pursuit of him. He 
began to run, crying out, " What shall I do } The 
bears have found my tracks, and are after me ! " The 
country in which he was now passing was an appar- 
ently endless prairie, with nothing growing upon it 
but short grass; but as he flew onward he heard a 
voice, which said, " So soon as the bears catch you 
they will kill you ; now you must use your arrows." 



12 6 Indians [No. 44 

Immediately the boy hunter remembered that he had 
his weapons and the articles which his sister had given 
him. Taking an arrow from his quiver, he fixed it to 
his bowstring, and as he was about to shoot it into 
the air before him he said to the arrow, " When you 
come down, there shall be about you a copse covering 
an area as wide as the range of an arrow. There I 
shall hide myself." 

Away flew the arrow, and the moment it struck and 
entered the earth there was a small hole in the ground, 
around which sprung up a dense growth of brush. 
The little boy ran to the hole, crawled into it, and 
then went to the edge of the brush, where he came 
up and hid by the side of a tree which also had sprung 
out of the ground'. As the bears came to the spot 
where they had seen the boy disappear, they began 
to tear up the brush until not a piece remained stand- 
ing. Not finding the hunter, the bears began to search 
for his last footprints, and finding that they terminated 
at the hole made by the arrow they at once followed 
him. As the bears were now in close pursuit of the 
boy, he again disappeared in the ground and started 
away until he had got quite a distance from the tree, 
when he again emerged and started to run away along 
the prairie. 

By the time the bears reached the tree where the 
boy had rested for a moment, they were again delayed 
in traiHng him, but they finally succeeded in tracking 
him out to the prairie, where they espied him running 
in the distance. They immediately set out in pursuit, 
but it was a long time before they neared him. When 
the bears approached, the hunter took his second ar- 
row, and shooting it into the air before him, said to it, 
**When you come down there shall be about you a 



No. 44] 



Magic Bears 



I 27 



copse as wide as the range of an arrow. There I 
shall hide myself." 

When the arrow descended and entered the earth 
there appeared a dense undergrowth which completely 
hid the boy, who then went to the hole, crawled into 
it, and travelled along in the ground until he had 
passed beyond the end 
of the copse, where he 
emerged and hid by a 
tree which also had 
sprung up. 

As before, the bears 
were infuriated at the 
escape of the boy, and 
tore up the brush in 
every direction in 
their search for him. 
Finally they discov- 
ered the arrow hole, 
which they entered. 
Following the foot- 
steps of the boy they 
soon found the place 
where he had taken 
refuge, but before they 
reached him he found 
himself pursued, and, again diving under the sur- 
face, he started away for some distance, when he 
emerged from beneath the ground and started away 
over the prairie as before. A second time were the 
bears bafifled, and by the time they found the foot- 
prints of the boy he was far off. They at once started 
in pursuit, and as the boy began to tire a little the 
bears gained rapidly on him, until he found that the 




AN INDIAN PAPOOSE. 



12 8 Indians [No. 44 

only way to escape was to use his third arrow. Tak- 
ing the shaft from his quiver and fitting it to his bow- 
string, he aimed upward into the air before him and 
said, *' When you come down there shall be about you 
a copse as wide as the range of an arrow. There I 
shall hide myself." 

The arrow descended, making a hole in the ground 
as before, and a copse appeared all around it, hiding 
it from view. The boy at once went down into the 
hole and away to the edge of the copse, where he as- 
cended to the surface and hid near one of the trees 
which had sprung up at his command. 

The chase was a long one, and in time the boy 
began to tire and the bears to gain on him, so that he 
was compelled to take his last arrow, which he fixed 
to the string of his bow and shot into the air, saying, 
"When you come down there shall be about you a 
marsh filled with cat-tails, from the middle of which 
there shall be a trail ; by that shall I escape." 

When the arrow descended the boy found himself 
in the midst of a large marsh, and from his feet for- 
ward a trail of firm ground, which enabled him to 
continue running whilst the bears struggled in the 
mud and amongst the cat-tails. After a while the 
bears also found the trail, and renewed their pursuit 
of the boy, giving him no opportunity for a moment's 
rest. As they neared him, the bears shouted, " We 
are now close upon you, and in a short time we will 
catch you and kill you ! " Then the boy remembered 
the stone which his sister had given him, and taking 
it out of his pouch he put it in a strip of buckskin and 
slung it round several times above his head, then 
threw it forward on the prairie, saying, " As I sling 
this it will cause a long high rock to appear, upon 



No. 44] Magic Bears 129 

which I shall take refuge." The little stone bounded 
and rolled along over the ground and suddenly became 
transformed into a steep, high cliff with a flat top and 
with many loose stones lying about the edge. As the 
boy reached the cliff he clambered to the summit and 
looked over the edge to watch the bears. The bears 
ran around the base, looking for the boy everywhere, 
and when they appeared beneath the boy, he began 
to roll over the large loose stones upon them, kilUng 
a great many and breaking the bones and otherwise 
disabling others. While the unharmed bears, who 
were even more astonished at what had transpired, 
went to look at their killed and wounded compan- 
ions, the boy hastily descended on the opposite side 
of the cliff and started out in a new direction to 
escape. 

After gazing awhile at their dead and wounded 
companions the unmaimed bears began to look foi 
the boy, but neither hearing nor seeing him they sus- 
pected that he had escaped, and at once began to 
search for footprints leading away from the rock. 
When these were found, the bears followed in pursuit 
until they were almost certain of capturing their 
enemy. 

Now the bears had not eaten anything for a long 
time, and they began to feel very hungry ; but there 
was nothing in sight that they could devour save the 
boy, so they tried their utmost to catch him, and were 
slowly gaining on him when he remembered the blue- 
berries which his sister had given him. These he took 
from his pouch, and threw them into the air, scatter- 
ing them far and wide, and said, " When you fall to 
the ground there shall be blueberries growing every- 
where ; these will deliver me." When the berries 



130 Indians [no. 44 

fell, surely enough there instantly appeared blueberry 
bushes laden with fruit, which caused the bears to 
stop. They were so eager to eat that they entirely 
forgot the boy until they could eat no more ; they 
then remembered what they had contemplated doing 
when they first set out. One old bear, observing dis- 
satisfaction among his friends, said, " My brothers, we 
had better give up the chase ; the boy is merely a mys- 
tery. Let us stop and live here, for here we shall 
have sufficient food without digging for it." To this 
the rest of the bears assented ; so here they made 
their home. 




THE FAIRMNKS HOUSE, 



PART V 

HOW THE COLONIES GREW 



45. The First Landing at Plymouth 

By Governor William Bradford (1620) 

Omitting other things, I will tell you that after The May- 
long- beatinff about at sea they came to Cape Cod /^^^^^^^ 

11 T 1 • r 1 T T • 1 • 1 "s passen- 

and they were not a little joyiul. Having thus arrived gers, carry- 
in a good harbor and having been brought safe to ing English 
land, they fell upon their knees and blessed the God had^been ° 
of Heaven who had brought them over the vast and living lately 
furious ocean, and delivered them from all the perils '" ^°^ ^^^' 
and miseries of the sea. Even now they had no 
friends to welcome them, nor inns to entertain or 
refresh their weather-beaten bodies ; no houses and 
much less towns in which to seek for succor. 

It was in the winter season, and those who know NewEng- 
about the winters of that country know them to be 'and winters 

•^ 1 • 1 seemed very 

sharp and violent, with cruel and fierce storms, which severe to 
make it dangerous to travel even to known places, Europeans, 
much more to search an unknown coast. They knew 
that they were in a desolate wilderness, full of wild 
beasts and wild men, in what numbers they knew not. 
If they looked behind them, there was the mighty 
ocean which they had crossed, seeming now like a 

133 



134 



Colonies 



[No. 45 



Clarke's 
Island in 
Plymouth 
harbor. 



gulf or a bar to separate them from all the civilized 
parts of the world. 

It was on the eleventh day of November that 
they arrived at Cape Cod and necessity called them 
to look immediately for a place of habitation. They 
had brought a large shallop with them out of Eng- 
land, stowed away in the quarters of the ship. Now 
they took her out and set their carpenters to work to 
trim her up. This work they saw would take a long 
time because the ship had become much shattered 
during the foul weather which struck the big vessel. 
Whilst the ship was being mended a few of them 
offered to go along the land to explore the places 
near by. Some of them thought that they saw a river 
as they went into the harbor. Sixteen men well armed 
started out under the leadership of Captain Standish. 
After some hours sailing it began to snow and rain 
and the sea became very rough ; they broke their 
rudder and it was as much as two men could do to 
steer the shallop with a couple of oars. Their pilot 
bade them be of good cheer, for he saw the harbor, 
but the storm increased and the night came on ; so 
they put on what sail they could in order to get there 
while they could see. By doing this they broke their 
mast in three pieces and their sail fell overboard. 
The men set things to right as far as they could, and 
having the current with them they came into the har- 
bor. Then the pilot saw that he had been deceived 
in the place and that they were in a dangerous rough 
cove, full of breakers. A lusty seaman who steered 
bade those who rowed to put the shallop about, or 
else they would all be cast away. This they did with 
speed, so that he bade them be of good cheer and to 
row bravely for there was a fair bay before them 



No. 45] Plymouth Rock 135 

which he thought they might find, and there ride in 
safety. Though it was very dark and rained hard 
they got under the lee of a small island and remained 
there all night in safety. 

They did not know that this was an island until 
morning. Then they were divided in their minds ; 
some wished to stay in the boat for fear they might 
be amongst the Indians ; others were so weak and 
cold that they felt they could not endure that, so they 
went ashore to make a fire. This they did with great 
trouble, everything was so wet. Then the rest were 
delighted to come to them, for the wind had shifted 
to the northwest, and had frozen their clothing, which 
had been wet in the storm. So after a day and night 
of much trouble and danger, God gave them a morn- 
ing of comfort and hope, for the next day was a fair 
sunshiny day. They found themselves on an island 
secure from the Indians, where they might dry their 
clothes, clean their firearms and rest themselves. So 
they gave God thanks for his mercies. This being 
the last day of the week, they prepared to keep the 
Sabbath the next day. 

On Monday they sounded the harbor and found it They crossed 
fit for shippins^. They marched up into the land, ^^e harbor, 

r 1 r ^ ^ ii-i • i i Westward, 

found many cornfields and little runnmg brooks, and landed 
making it a place, as they supposed, fit for a settle- onthemain- 
ment. At least, it was the best they could find and 
both the season and their present necessities made 
them glad to accept it, so that they returned to their 
big ship again with this news, which did much to 
comfort the hearts of the rest of their people. 

On the fifteenth of December, the big ship weighed 
anchor to go to the place which Miles Standish and 
his exploring party had discovered, and came within 



136 



Colonies [no. 46 



Two leagues two leagues of it, but they were obliged to wait there 

= SIX miles. ^ ^g^y Qj^ ^j^g sixteenth day the wind came fair, and 

Then they they arrived in this harbor. Afterwards they took a 

landed at or bg^j-gj- yiew of the placc and decided where to pitch 

near Plv- 

mouth Rock, their dwelling. On the twenty-fifth day they began 

a big boulder |-q ercct the first housc, for the common use of all. 

which is still 
in place. 



46. The First Settlement of 
Massachusetts 

By Edward Johnson (1628) 

These new-comers were a supply of servants from 
England sent over in 1628 to provide against the 
wants of a lonely wilderness. Among them came 
over a mixed crowd of people, by whom little was 
done. But the much honored Mr. John Endicot came 
over with them to govern. He was a good person to 
begin this wilderness work, for he was courageous, 
bold, and fearless ; yet sociable and of a cheerful dis- 
position. He could be loving or austere as occasion 
demanded. 

The place picked out by this people for a settle- 
ment was in the midst of the outstretched arm of 
Cape Ann. Here they began to build a town which 
is called Salem. 

After some little time they found out how insignifi- 
cant were the neighboring Indians, and the boldest 
among the English people gathered in different 
places which they began to take up for their own. 
Those that were sent over as servants had a great 
desire to see the new sights in the new world, and 



No. 46] Massachusetts 137 

found it easier to eat up of their master's provisions, 
than to get more. 

Those that came over as their own masters had but 
little food left. Most of them began to regret coming 
when beer and corn began to fail. The poor Indians 
could not relieve them for they were obHged to eke 
out their own food with acorns. 

What added to the unhappiness of the settlers was i.e. that they 
the thought that the ditch between England and their ""^^^^ "°^ 
new place of abode was so wide that they could not home again, 
leap over with a leaping-stick. Yet some dehghted 
their eye with the novelty of things about them ; and 
they kept thinking of the new discoveries they would 
make when spring came. They managed to get 
through the winter's cold by keeping near the fire- 
side, and found fuel enough groaning at their very 
doors. They smoked burned tobacco with all the 
comfort they could. 

They talked, between one while and another, of the 
great progress they would make after the summer's 
sun had changed the earth's white furred gown into 
a green garment. 

In the year 1629 there came over three godly min- 
isters. This was to strengthen the faith of the settlers 
in meeting difficulties. Now although the number of 
the faithful people of Christ was small, yet their long- 
ing desire to gather themselves into a church was very 
great. The church of Christ being thus begun, the 
Lord in His tender mercy caused it to increase and be 
fruitful. 

And now behold several other regiments of the That is, more 
soldiers of Christ, shipped for His service in the colonists set 
western world. Their difficulties were many and writer likens 
mournful, The billows were high and angry, cover- ^^^^ ^° §oi- 



138 



Colonies 



[No. 46 



diers of the 
Lord. 

" Ship fever," 
a very dan- 
gerous 
disease, was 
common in 
the voyages 
of that time. 



ing them with awful water and dashing their bodies 
from side to side. Their goods were thrown from 
place to place on the ships. After the Lord had 
given them these trials, He sent diseases to visit their 
ships. 

On the twelfth day of July or thereabouts, 1630, 
these soldiers of Christ first set foot on the western 
end of the world. There they arrived in safety, men, 
women, and children. On the north side of the 
Charles River they landed, near a small island called 




A soldier's outfit. 



No. 46] 



Boston 



139 



Noddell's Island. Lady Arabella and some other Now East 
godly women abode at Salem while their husbands °^^°"* 
remained at Charlestown to settle the civil govern- 
ment and to form another church of Christ. 

The first court was held aboard the ship Arabella. 
The much honored John Winthrop was chosen gov- 
ernor for the remainder of that year, 1630. The 
worthy Thomas Dudley was chosen deputy governor. 

Then sore sickness fell upon the people, so that in 
almost every family mourning and sorrow was heard ; 
and they had no fresh food to strengthen them. Yet 
it was wonderful to see with what Christian cour- 
age these soldiers of Christ persevered amidst all 
calamities. 

Soon they had formed other churches and towns. 
The fourth church was seated at Boston, which be- 
came the central town and largest city of this wilder- 
ness. The form of this town is like a heart. It is 
naturally situated for fortifications. It has two hills 
on the front part of it, facing the sea. One is well 
fortified with heavy cannon. The other has a very 
strong battery built of whole timber and filled with 
earth. 

At the bottom of these hills lies a great bay on Boston 
which this town is built. It is over-topped by a third harbor, 
hill. From all three of these overtopping towers a Beacon Hiii 
constant watch is kept to foresee the approach of 
any danger from strange enemies. Each hill is fur- 
nished with a beacon and land guns. By their re- 
doubled echoes these give notice of any danger to all 
their sister towns. 

The buildings of this city are beautiful and large. 
Some are pleasingly built of bricks, tiles, stone, and 
slate. They are placed in an orderly fashion upon 



on which the 
State House 
now stands. 



140 



Colonies 



[No. 47 



beautiful streets. Much shipping is built here yearly, 
and some ships of good size. Both tar and masts, 
the country affords from its own soil ; there is also a 
supply of food, both for their own — and for foreign- 
ers' ships. This town is the very market of the land. 
French, Portuguese, and Dutch come here to trade. 



47. How the Englishmen sailed 
past New Amsterdam 

By David De Vries (1632) 

Fort Amster- When wc arrived before Fort Amsterdam, we found 
New' York ^ Company's ship there with a prize taken on the way. 
City, was the laden with sugar. She had brought over the new gov- 
pnncipai ernor, Wouter Van Twiller. He had been a clerk in 




NEW AMSTERDAM. 



trading post the Wcst India Department at Amsterdam. I went 

in New " "^ ashore to the fort, out of which he came to welcome 

Netherlands. US, and inquired of me how the whale fishing suc- 

The"Com. ceeded. 



No. 47] New Amsterdam 141 

A few days later, on the eighteenth of April, an pany"was 
Englishman arrived here, who came from New Eng- ^^g^iJj^^^ 
land to trade up the Hudson River. This English- Company, 
man invited the governor to come and see him. I ^'^^^^ "^^"" 

• 11- • 1 ^ c rf agtid the 

went with them, m company with a number of om- coiony. 
cers, who became drunk and got into such high words 
that the Englishman could not understand how it was 
that there should be such unruliness among the offi- 
cers of the company, nor why the governor should 
have not more control over them ; he was not accus- 
tomed to such conduct among his countrymen. The 
Englishman and his crew remained six or seven days, 
lying before the fort, and then said that he wished to 
go up the river, and that the land belonged to the 
English. This we denied, declaring that they had 
never made any settlement there. 

On the twenty-fourth, however, the Englishman 
weighed anchor and sailed up the river to Fort Now Albany. 
Orange. Then Governor Wouter Van Twiller as- 
sembled all his forces before his door, had a cask of 
wine brought out, filled a bumper, and cried out for 
those who loved the Prince of Orange and him to do The greatest 
the same as he did, and protect him from the outrage JJ^" '" 
of the Englishman who was already out of sight, sail- 
ing up the river. The people all began to laugh at 
him ; for they understood well how to drink dry the 
cask of wine, but did not wish to trouble the English- 
man, saying that they were friends. 

As I sat at the table with him at noon I told him 
that he had been very foolish, as the Englishman had 
no permission to navigate in the river, but only a 
paper of a custom house, stating that he had paid so 
much duty and might sail with so many passengers 
to New England, and not to New Netherlands. I 



142 



Colonies 



[No. 47 



Solid iron 
beans, of 
course. 



said, if it were my matter, I would have helped him 
away from the fort with beans from eight pounders, 
and not permitted him to sail up the river. I told 
him that since the English had troubled us in the 
East Indies, we ought to take hold of them ; that I 
had no good opinion of that nation, for they were so 
proud that they thought everything belonged to them ; 
were it an affair of mine I should send a ship after 
him to make him haul down the river. I added that 
the Englishman was only making sport of the Gov- 
ernor. 




A NEW YORK LADY. 



No. 48] Maryland 143 

48. Maryland, My Maryland 

By Father Andrew White (1634) 

On the third of March we sailed into the Chesa- 
peake Bay, bending our course to the north that we 
might reach the Potomac River. The Chesapeake 
Bay, ten leagues broad, and four, five, six, and even 
seven fathoms deep, flows gently between its shores ; 
it abounds in fish when the season of the year is 
favorable. A more beautiful body of water you can 
scarcely find. 

A larger or more beautiful river than the Potomac 
I have never seen. The Thames compared with it 
can scarcely be considered a rivulet. It is not made 
impure by marshes, but on each shore of solid earth 
there are beautiful groves of trees, not choked up with 
an undergrowth of brambles and bushes, but looking 
as if the place were laid out by hand, in a manner so 
open that you might freely drive a four-horse coach 
in the midst of the trees. 

At the very mouth of the river we beheld the na- 
tives armed. That night fires were kindled through 
the whole region, and since so large a ship had never 
been seen by them, messengers were sent everywhere 
to announce, *'a canoe, as large as an island, has 
brought as many men as there are trees in the 
woods." We proceeded, however, to the Heron 
Islands, so called from the immense flocks of birds 
of this kind. 

The first island that presented itself we called by 
the name of St. Clement's ; the second, St. Cather- 
ine's, and the third St. Cecilia's ; for, having arrived 
at the wished-for country we gave such names as we 



1+4 



Colonies 



[No. 49 



Probably the 
hickory-nut. 



The writer of 
this extract 
was a Catho- 
lic priest. 



liked to the places that we found. We landed first 
at St. Clement's, to which the approach is difficult, 
except by wading, because of the shelving nature of 
the shore. Here the young women, who had landed 
for the purpose of washing, were nearly drowned by 
the upsetting of the boat, and a great portion of my 
linen was lost — no trifling misfortune in these parts. 

This island abounds in cedar, sassafras, and the herbs 
and flowers for making salads of every kind, and with 
the nut of a wild tree, which bears a very hard nut, in 
a thick shell, with a kernel very small but remarkably 
pleasant to taste. Since this island was only four 
hundred acres in extent, however, it did not appear 
to be a place sufficiently large for a new settlement. 
Nevertheless, a site was sought for building a fort to 
shut out foreigners from the trade of the river, and 
to protect our boundaries. 

On the day of the Annunciation of the Holy Virgin 
Mary, on the twenty-fifth of March, in the year 1634, 
we offered in this island, for the first time, the sacri- 
fice of the mass : in this region of the world it had 
never been celebrated before. 



Christians = 
Europeans. 



49. Creatures in Pennsylvania 

By Gabriel Thomas (1698) 

The natives of this country are very charitable to 
one another. The lame and the blind amongst them 
live as well as the best. They are also very kind and 
obliging to the Christians. 

In person they are ordinarily tall, straight, and 
well formed. Their tread is strong, and they gener- 



No- 49] Pennsylvania 145 

ally walk with the chin high up. Of complexion, 
they are dark, but in features they are gypsy-like, 
greasing themselves with bear's fat, and using noth- 
ing to protect them against the injuries of the sun 
and weather, so their skins cannot fail to be dark. 
Their eyes are small and black. They have pleasing 
faces. 

Their language is dignified and polite. But they 
use few words. One word serves in the place of 
three. The language is sweet, and of noble sound. 

Take here a specimen : — 

Hodi hita nee Cuska a peechi, nee, machi 
Pennsylvania huska dogwachi, Keshow a peechi 
Nowa, huska haly, Chetena Koon peo. 

This is the EngHsh of it : — 

Farewell friend, I will very quickly go to 
Pennsylvania, very cold moon will come presently, 
And very great hard frosts will come quickly. 

As soon as their children are born, they wash 
them in cold water, especially in cold weather. To 
harden them and make them courageous, they plunge 
them in the river. The children find their feet early ; 
usually at nine months they can walk alone. 

The boys fish till they are fifteen years of age, 
then hunt. When they have given a proof of their 
manhood by getting together a large lot of skins, 
they may marry. This is usually at the age of seven- 
teen or eighteen. The girls stay with their mothers, 
and help to hoe the ground, plant corn, and carry 
burdens. They marry when they are about thirteen 
or fourteen years of age. 

L 



146 



Colon 



les 



[No. 49 



The next people who settled in what is now Penn- 
sylvania after the Indians were the Dutch. They 
called the country New Netherland. They were 
the first planters in those parts, but they made little 
or no improvement in the land. They gave them- 




WILLIAM PENN. 



selves wholly to trading in skins and furs, which the 
Indians furnished to them for rum, strong liquors, 
sugar, and other things. 

Soon after the Dutch, came the Swedes and Fins. 

They gave themselves to farming, and were the 
first Christian people that made any great improve- 
ment there. 



No. 49] Pennsylvania 147 

The air in this region is very fine and pleasant, 
and healthful. The heavens are serene, seldom 
cloudy, and somewhat Hke the better part of France. 
The corn harvest is ended before the middle of July, 
and most years they have between twenty and thirty 
bushels for every bushel they sow. 

There are several sorts of wild beasts good for 
trade and for food. Panthers, wolves, deer, beaver, 
otter, hares, musk-rats, minks, wild-cats, foxes, rac- 
coons, rabbits, and opossums are to be found. The 
possum is a strange creature, having a pouch to shel- 
ter her young ones. By this means she saves them 
from danger, when anything comes to disturb them. 

There are also bears, and some wolves. But they 
are now pretty well destroyed by the Indians for the 
sake of the reward given them by the Christians for 
so doing. Here is also that wonderful creature, the 
flying squirrel ! It has a kind of skinny wings, al- 
most like those of the bat. It has the same kind of 
hair and color as the common squirrel, but is much 
smaller. 

I have myself seen it fly from one tree to another 
in the woods. But how long it can keep on flying is 
not exactly known. There are in the woods many 
red deer. I have bought of the Indians a whole deer 
— skin and all — for a little gunpowder. 

The venison is excellent food, most delicious, far 
exceeding that of Europe. This is the opinion of 
most careful and observing people. 

There are vast numbers of other wild creatures, 
such as the elk and buffalo. All of these beasts, 
birds, and fish, are free to any one who will shoot or 
take them away. There is no hindrance or opposi- 
tion whatever. 



148 



Colonies 



[No. 49 



There are among other things various sorts of 
frogs. The bull-frog makes a roaring noise hardly 
to be distinguished from that of the beast from which 
it takes its name. 
Tree-toads. There is another sort of frog that crawls up to the 
tops of trees. There it seems to imitate the notes 
of several birds. There are many other strange and 
different creatures. 

Bees thrive and increase wonderfully in that coun- 
try. The Swedes often get a great supply of them 
in the woods, where they are free to anybody. 
Philadelphia. Choice honey is sold in the capital city for five pence 
a pound. Wax is also plentiful and cheap ; they 
have a considerable trade in it. 

I must needs say, even the present encouragements 
are very great and inviting. Poor people, both men 
and women, of all kinds, can here get three times the 
wages for their labor that they can in England. 

The Christian children born here are generally 
fine-looking and beautiful to behold. In general 
they are seen to be better-natured, milder, and more 
tender-hearted than those born in England. 




A BLOCK-HOUSE. 



No. 50] 



Vt 



rgim 



a 



149 



50. Plantation Life in Virginia 

By Robert Beverly (1720) 

As the families live altogether at country-seats, 
they each have their graziers, seedsmen, gardeners, 
brewers, bakers, butchers, and cooks. They have 
plenty and a variety of provisions for their table ; 
and as for spicery, and other things that the country 
does not produce, they have constant supplies of them 
from England. The gentry pretend to have their 
victuals served up as nicely as if they were in 
London. 

When I come to speak of their cattle, I cannot for- 
bear charging my countrymen with exceeding unthrift. 
By not providing sufficiently for them during the win- 
ter, they starve their young cattle, or at least stunt 
their growth. 

Their fish is in vast plenty and variety, and ex- 
traordinarily good of its kind. Beef and pork are com- 
monly sold there, at from one penny to two pence 
the pound, or more, according to the time of the 
year ; their fattest and largest pullets at six pence a 
piece ; their chickens at three or four shillings the 
dozen ; their ducks at eight pence or nine pence a 
piece ; their geese at ten pence or a shilling ; their 
turkey hens at fifteen or eighteen pence; their turkey 
cocks at two shillings or half a crown. Oysters and 
wild fowl are not so dear as poultry, and in their sea- 
son are the cheapest food they have. Their deer are 
commonly sold from five to ten shillings according to 
their scarcity or goodness. 

The bread in gentlemen's houses is generally made 
of wheat, but some choose the pone, which is the bread 



That is, they 
have servants 
or slaves 
for each of 
these duties. 



English 
penny = two 
cents. An 
English six- 
pence = 
twelve cents. 
An English 
shilling = • 
about twenty- 
four cents. 



That is, from 
$ 1.25 to 
$ 2.50 each. 



5 o Colonies :no 5c 



made of Indian meal Many of the poorer sort of 
people have so little regard for the English grain, 
that although the}' might have it -with the least trou- 
ble in the world, yet they do not sow the ground, 
because they will not be at the trouble of making a 
fence particularly for it And therefore their con- 
stant bread is pone, so called from the Indian name 
oppone. 

A kitchen garden does not thrive better nor faster 
in any part of the universe, than in Virginia. They 
have all the fruit plants that grow in England, and 
in greater perfection than in England Besides 
these they have several roots, herbs, \-ine-fruits, and 
salad flowers peculiar to themselves, most of which 
T**ill neither increase, nor grow to perfection in Eng- 
land. 
Smai drink Their smaH drink is either -wine and water, beer, 
was ac}-tnmg j^j]]^ ^^^j water, or water alone. The richer sort of 
spirits. In people generally brew their small beer T^ith malt, 
tQose davs which they have from England, though barley grows 
dra^ freely there verv' well ; but for want of the convenience of 
(and often malthouses, the inhabitants take no care to sow it 
o^aTso^ of "^^ poorer sort brew their beer from molasses and 
fermemed bran ; f rom Indian com, malted by dr}-ing it in a 
anc distiiied g^Qy^ • f j-Qm persimmons dried in cakes and baked : 

iiqnors- ' ^ 

from potatoes; or from the green stalks of Indian 
com cut small, and bruised. 

Their strong drink is Madeira wine, cider, mobby 
punch, made either of rum from the Caribbee Islands, 
or brandy distilled from their apples and peaches; 
besides brandy, wine and strong beer, which they 
have constantly from England. 

Their fuel is altogether wood, which ever}' man 
bums at pleasure, for it costs him only the cutting 



No. 50] Virginia 151 

and carrying it home. In all new grounds it is such 

an incumbrance, that they are forced to burn great 

heaps of it, to rid the land. They have very good About fifty 

pit-coal in several places of the country, but no man ^^^^\ ago the 

^ ^ ■' burning of 

has yet thought it worth his while to make use of it, this coai 
as he has wood in plenty, which is lying conveniently began, and 

^ •' J <^ J has ever 

near nim. since con- 

They get their clothing of all sorts from England, tinned, 
as linen, woolen, silk, hats, and leather : yet flax and 
hemp grow nowhere in the world better than there. 
Their sheep yield good increase, and bear good 
fleeces ; but they shear them only to cool them. 
The mulberry-tree, whose leaf is the proper food of 
the silk worm, grows there like a weed, and silk 
worms have been observed to thrive extremely well. 
Most of their hides lie and spoil, or are made use of 
only for covering dry goods, in a leaky house. In- 
deed, some few hides with much ado are tanned, and 
made into servants' shoes, but in so careless a fashion, 
that the planters do not care to buy them, if they can 
get others. Sometimes perhaps a better manager 
than ordinary, will vouchsafe to make a pair of 
breeches of a deerskin. Nay, they are such abom- 
inably poor managers that though their country be 
over-run with wood, yet they have all their wooden 
ware from England ; their cabinets, chairs, tables, 
stools, chests, boxes, cart-wheels, and all other things, 
even so much as their bowls and birchen brooms, to 
the eternal reproach of their laziness. 

For their recreation, the plantations,-vO]^hards, ari*d 
gardens constantly afford them fragrant and delight- 
ful walks. In their woods and fields, they have an 
unknown variety of vegetables, and other rarities of 
nature to discover and observe. They have hunting, 



1^2 Colonies [No. 51 

fishing, and fowling, with which they entertain them- 
selves in a hundred ways. There is the most good- 
nature and hospitality practised in the world, both 
towards friends and strangers ; but the worst of it is, 
this generosity is attended now and then, with a little 
too much intemperance. 

A neighborhood is as much scattered as in the 
country in England ; but the goodness of the roads, 
and the fairness of the weather, bring people often 
together. The inhabitants are very courteous to 
travellers. A stranger has only to inquire upon the 
road, where any gentleman, or good house keeper 
lives, and there he may depend upon being received 
with hospitality. This good nature is so general 
among their people, that the gentry, when they go 
abroad, order their principal servant to entertain all 
visitors, with everything the plantation affords. And 
the poor planters who have but one bed will very often 
sit up, or Ue upon a couch all night, to make room for 
a weary traveller to rest himself after his journey. 



51. Puritan Amusements 

By P, Bennett (1740) 

A chaise was SEVERAL families in Boston keep a coach, and a 
a one-horse pg^jj. Qf horses, and some few drive with four horses ; 
as for chaises and saddle horses, considering the 
size of the place, they outdo London. They have 
some nimble lively horses for their coaches but not 
any of that beautiful, large, black breed so common 
in London. 

The common horses used in carts about the town 



No. 51] Puritan Fun • 153 

are very small and poor. They seldom have their 
fill 'of anything but labor. The country carts and 
wagons are generally drawn by oxen, from two to 
six, according to the distance or to the burden they 
are loaded with. 

When the ladies ride out to take the air, it is gen- a chair was 
erally in a chaise or chair, and then but a single horse ^ ^^"^ °^ 
is used. They have a negro servant to drive them. 
The gentlemen ride out here as in England, some in 
chairs, and others on horseback, with their negroes 
to attend them. 

They travel in much the same manner on business 
as for pleasure. Their roads are exceedingly good 
in summer. Yet it is safe travelling night or day ; 
for they have no highway robbers to interrupt them. 
Riding through the woods is pleasant, and the coun- 
try is dotted with farm houses, cottages, and some 
few gentlemen's country houses. 

The best of their inns and pubhc houses are far 
short of the beauty and convenience of ours in Eng- 
land. They have generally a Httle rum to drink, and 
some of them have a sorry sort of Madeira wine. 
For food they have Indian corn roasted, and bread 
made of Indian meal. Sometimes they have a fowl 
or fish dressed after a fashion ; they have pretty good 
butter, and a very sad sort of cheese. But those who 
are used to these things think them tolerable. 

For their amusements, every afternoon, after drink- 
ing tea, the gentlemen and ladies walk the Mall. 
From there they go to one another's houses to spend 
the evening, that is, those who are not disposed to 
attend the evening lecture. This they may do, if Lectures 
they please, six nights out of seven, the year round, ^r^se^rmon^' 

What they call the Mall is a walk on a fine green 




A COLONIAL KITCHEN. 



No. 52] Puritan Fun 155 

common. It is nearly half a mile over, with two Boston 

rows of young trees planted opposite to each other. Common. 

There is a fine footway between in imitation of St. St. James's 

James's Park. Part of the bay of the sea which ^^^^ '" 

... . . ■' London. 

encircles the town, takes its course along the north- where now 
west side of the Common. one sees the 

Their country sports are chiefly shooting and fish- Garden 
ing. For the former the woods afford them plenty 
of game. The rivers and ponds, with which this 
country abounds, yield them a great plenty as well 
as a great variety of fine fish. 

The government is in the hands of the Dissenters, Protestants 
who do not allow theatres or music houses. But t^? ^^^ "°^ 

belong to the 

although plays and such entertainments are not held Church of 
here, the people don't seem to be dispirited or to of England 

rri -r^i,/,-.. ■■ were called 

mope for want of them. For both the ladies and Dissenters 
gentlemen dress and appear as gay, usually, as court- and Puritans, 
iers in England on a coronation day or birthday. 
And the ladies here visit, drink tea, and do every- 
thing else in the height of fashion. They neglect 
the affairs of their families with as good a grace as 
the finest ladies in London. 



52. Impressions of South Carolina 

By Eliza Lucas (May 22d, 1742) 

I AM now set down, my dear brother, to obey your 
commands and give you a short description of the 
part of the world I now inhabit. 

South Carolina is an extensive country near the sea. 
Most of the settled part of it is upon a flat. The soil 
near Charlestown is sandy ; but further inland it is 



156 



Colonies [No. 5c 



clay and swamp lands. The country abounds with 
fine navigable rivers and great quantities of fine tim- 
ber. At a great distance, that is to say about a hun- 
dred and fifty miles from Charlestown, it is very hilly. 

The soil in general is very fertile and there are few 
European or American fruits or grains but what grow 
here. The country abounds with wild fowl, deer, and 
fish. Beef, veal, and mutton are here in much greater 
perfection than in the islands, though not equal to 
that of England. Fruit is extremely good and grows 
in profusion. The oranges exceed any I ever tasted 
West Indies, in the West Indies or from Spain or Portugal. 

The people in general are hospitable and honest; 
and the better sort add to these qualities a polite gen- 
teel behavior. The poorer sort are the most indolent 
people in the world, or they would never be so wretched 
in so plentiful a country as this. 

The winters here are fine and pleasant. But four 
months in the year are extremely disagreeable, — 
excessively hot, much thunder and lightning, and 
mosquitoes and sand flies in abundance. Charlestown, 
the metropolis, is a neat pretty place. The inhabi- 
tants are poHte and live in a very genteel manner. 
The streets and houses are regularly built. The 
ladies and gentlemen are gay in their dress. Upon 
the whole you will find as many agreeable people of 
both sexes, for the size of the place, as almost any- 
where. 

St. PhiUips Church in Charlestown is a very ele- 
gant one and much frequented. There are several 
more places of public worship in the town, and in 
general the people are of a religious turn of mind. 

I began in haste and have shown no order in writ- 
ing, or I should have told you, before I came to sum- 



No. 53] South Carolifta 157 

mer, that we have a most charming spring in this 
country. Especially is this true for those who travel 
through the country. For the scent of the young 
myrtle and yellow jessamine, with which the woods 
abound, is delightful. 

The staple commodity here is rice, which is the 
only thing they export to Europe. Beef, pork, and 
lumber they send to the West Indies. 

Mama and Polly join in love, with dear brother. 
Yours affectionately, 

E. Lucas. 

To George Lucas, Esquire. 



53. Slavery in Virginia 

Letters of Peter Fontaine (1757) 

As to your query, whether enslaving our fellow 
creatures be a practice agreeable to Christianity, I 
shall only mention something of our present state 
here. Like Adam we are all apt to shift off the 
blame from ourselves and lay it upon others, how 
justly in our case you may judge. The negroes are 
enslaved by the negroes themselves before they are 
purchased by the masters of the ships who bring 
them here. It is to be sure at our choice whether 
we buy them or not, so this then is our crime, folly, 
or whatever you will please to call it. 

Our Assembly, foreseeing the bad consequences Legislation. 
of importing such numbers amongst us, hath often 
attempted to lay a duty upon them which would 
amount to a prohibition, such as ten or twenty pounds 
a head ; but no Governor dare pass such a law, hav- 



158 



Colon 



les 



[No. 53 



The home 
government 
forbids the 
Colonies to 
favor the 
trade. 



The home 
government 
did not like 
to have the 
Colonies lay 
taxes on 
things sent to 
England. 



About % loo. 
Spend about 
$ 140 and 
you can buy 
a slave. 



ing instructions to the contrary from the Board of 
Trade at home. By this means they are forced upon 
us, whether we will or will not. This plainly shows 
the African Company hath the advantage of the 
colonies, and may do as it pleases with the Ministry. 

Since we have been exhausted of our little stock 
of cash by the war, the importation of slaves has 
stopped ; our poverty then is our best security. 
There is no more picking for their ravenous jaws 
upon bare bones ; but should we begin to thrive they 
will be at the same business again. 

All our taxes are now laid upon slaves and on 
shippers of tobacco, which the English wink at while 
we are in danger of being torn from them ; but we 
dare not do it in time of peace, it being looked upon 
as the highest presumption to lay any burden upon 
trade. 

This is our part of the grievance, but to live in 
Virginia without slaves is morally impossible. Before 
our troubles, you could not hire a servant or slave for 
love or money ; so that, unless you are robust enough 
to cut wood, to go to mill, to work at the hoe, etc., 
you must starve, or board in some family where they 
both fleece and half starve you. There is no set 
price upon corn, wheat, and provisions, so they take 
advantage of the necessities of strangers, who are 
thus obliged to purchase some slaves and land. This 
of course draws us all into the original sin and curse 
of the country of purchasing slaves. This is the 
reason we have no merchants, traders, or artificers of 
any sort who do not become planters in a short time. 

A common laborer, white or black, if you can be 
so much favored as to hire one, is a shilling sterling 
or fifteen pence currency per day ; a bungUng car- 



No. 54] Slaves 



59 



penter two shillings or two shillings and sixpence per 
day ; beside diet and lodging. That is, for a lazy- 
fellow to get wood and water, £ig. i6. 3, current 
per annum ; add to this seven or eight pounds more 
and you have a slave for life. 

Nevertheless I cannot help expressing my concern 
at the nature of our Virginia estates, so far as they 
consist in slaves. I suppose we have, young and old, 
one hundred and fifty thousand of them in the coun- 
try, a number, at least, equal to the whites. It is a 
hard task to do our duty towards them as we ought. 
We run the hazard of temporal ruin if they are not 
compelled to work hard on the one hand — and on 
the other, that of not being able to render a good 
account of our stewardship in the other and better 
world, if we oppress and tyrannize over them. 

Besides, according to our present method, which 
every body appears afraid to go out of, it seems 
quite necessary to lay most stress on that useless 
weed, tobacco, as our staple commodity. This is the 
reason that all other useful trades and occupations 
are neglected. Every Virginia tradesman must be at 
least half a planter, and, of course, not to be de- 
pended upon as a tradesman. 



54. In New Jersey 

By a Gentleman (1756) 

The province of New Jersey, of which I come now 
to give you some description, has been settled a little 
more than a hundred years. It is as well cultivated 
as any of the colonies, yet is in a careless condition, 



i6o Colonies [no. 54 

or at least seems so to one who has not seen newly 
settled places. 

The farms which lie interspersed in the bosom of 
thick woods, resemble the face of the sky after a tem- 
pest, when the clouds are breaking away and dispers- 
ing. The pleasantest spots that you see here are but 
homely beauties. Almost everywhere you pass upon 
the roads, you are either in woods, or have woods on 
one side of you. And the view which is on the open 
side is terminated by trees within the breadth of a 
field or two. So that the horizon is hardly any where 
clear, and to view the country from an eminence it 
seems to be almost all woods. 

The roads in most places are very good, but then 
you travel in a maze. You have neither milestone 
nor Mercury for your direction. Only here and there 
Guide-post, is a tree marked with the initial letter of the name of 
the next town, but so ill cut that one can hardly know 
it to be an alphabetical character. A few scattered 
houses make here a village. And in those towns 
where the buildings stand in Hne they are not near 
together. 

The people are naturally brisk and of a lively tem- 
per. They stand much upon a footing of equahty 
with each other. Those of the common sort by con- 
versing freely with persons in office acquire a knowl- 
edge of things and business. Thus they receive a 
brightening by which they are far superior to our 
country men of the same rank. 

ReUgion is here divided into many sects and parties. 
The men who are extremely kind husbands go com- 
monly the way of the wife in this matter. 

The poor people in general live better here than in 
most places, I believe. This is because of the plenty 



No. 54] 



New Jersey 



i6i 



and cheapness of provisions. They are able to place 
their children in good famiUes by the time they are 
six or seven years of age, and they have little experi- 
ence of what it costs to bring them up. So that very 
few of them turn beggars, or go to seek their bread 
from home : if they do go, they carry their working 
tools upon their backs. 

You must certainly think that thefts and robberies 
cannot but be rife among us, as these colonies are 
obliged to take all the rogues and villains that are 
yearly transported from the several jails in England. 
But I can assure you it is far otherwise. People think 
so little of the danger of these things that many fami- 
lies never fasten their doors when they go to bed. 
And the good housewives that have cloth in bleach- 
ing never take it in at nights. As to picking of pock- 
ets, the practice is utterly unknown, and the roads are 
perfectly uninfested and secure. 

But the wonder of this will evaporate when I tell 
you that none of the Newgate gentry are landed here, 
but always either in Virginia or some of the southern 
colonies, where however they are no calamity. For 
the masters of the transports make them all bind 
themselves to him by indenture for four years. Thus 
they are obliged to honest labor. 

The spring here is commonly late, but when the 
year does begin to dress, the ornaments of Nature are 
out all at once. In a few days the scene is quite 
changed. The vast orchards are clad in a thick 
bloom which makes the country look and smell like 
paradise. 

The country is well watered with fine streams and 
rivers, and every house has a well. The woods, 
though abounding with very beautiful birds, are the 



Newgate was 
a prison in 
London. 
" Newgate 
gentry " were 
convicts. 
That is, the 
convicts and 
other bad 
characters 
have to agree 
to serve a 
master for 
four years 
after landing. 



1 62 Colonies [^^o. 54 

dullest of all sylvan scenes. The mocking bird is 
the mimic of them all, and a complete joker in his 
way. 

Nothing is so beautiful and diminutive as that little 
feathered spark, the humming bird, who with the 
most gallant address courts the daughters of the gar- 
den in a coat of plumage composed of the finest 
feathers. 

In summer time for about two months the air is 
bespangled every night with a kind of flies which 
they call fire-flies. They abound in swamps and 
woods of a wet soil. In those gloomy places they 
make an extraordinary appearance. Their light is 
not steady ; and in the silent night, hovering about 
in their bright form they almost give the mind an 
impression of a haunted place. 




EDWARD WINSLOW. 



PART VI 

LITTLE FOLKS 



55. Where the First English Child 
in America was Born 

By Governor John White (1587) 

About the sixteenth of July, we arrived at the These set- 
mainland of Vironia, which Simon Ferdinando took ^^^rswere 

^ ' sent out by 

to be the Island of Croatoan. Here we came to sir Waiter 
anchor and rode there two or three days. Finding Raleigh, after 
ourselves deceived, we weighed anchor and sailed to establish a 
along the coast, where in the night, had not Captain colony in 
Stafford been more careful in looking out than our Nofth^cTro- 
Simon Ferdinando was, we should have been cast linahad 
away upon the coast at a point called Cape of Fear, ^^/^^^"^q'^^^^^ 
for we came within two cables' length of it; such the pilot. 
was the carelessness and ignorance of our master. Master 

The two and twentieth day of July we came safely ^p^^f^'^'^" 
to Cape Hatteras where our ship and pinnace anchored. 
The Governor went aboard the pinnace accompanied 
by forty of his best men, intending to pass up to 
Roanoke. He hoped to find those fifteen English- 
men whom Sir Richard Grenville had left there the 
year before. With these he meant to have a confer- 
ence concerning the state of the country and the sav- 

165 



northward. 



1 66 hit tie Folks [No. 55 

ages, intending then to return to the fleet and pass 
That is, along the coast to the Bay of Chesapeake. Here we 

intended to make our settlement and fort according 
to the charge given us among other directions in 
writing under the hand of Sir Walter Raleigh. We 
passed to Roanoke and the same night at sunset went 
ashore on the island, in the place where our fifteen 
men were left. But we found none of them, nor any 
sign that they had been there, saving only that we 
found the bones of one of them, whom the savages 
had slain long before. 

The Governor with several of his company walked 
the next day to the north end of the island where 
Master Ralph Lane, with his men the year before, 
had built his fort with sundry dwelling houses. We 
hoped to find some signs here, or some certain knowl- 
edge of our fifteen men. 

When we came thither we found the fort razed, but 
all the houses standing unhurt, saving that the lower 
rooms of them, and of the fort also, were overgrown 
with melons of different sorts, and deer were in rooms 
feeding on those melons. So we returned to our com- 
pany without the hope of ever seeing any of the 
fifteen men living. 

The same day an order was given that every man 
should be employed in remodelling those houses which 
we found standing, and in making more cottages. 

On the eighteenth a daughter was born in Roanoke 
to Eleanor, the daughter of the Governor and the wife 
of Annanias Dare. This baby was christened on the 
Sunday following, and because this child was the first 
Christian born in Virginia she was named Virginia 
Dare. 

By this time our shipmasters had unloaded the 



No. 56] Lost Colony 167 

goods and victuals of the planters and taken wood 
and fresh water, and were newly calking and trim- 
ming their vessels for their return to England. The 
settlers also prepared their letters and news to send 
back to England. 



56. How the First Colony Dis- 
appeared 

By Governor John White (1590) 

When our boats were fitted again, we put off from white went 
Hatteras, numbering nineteen persons in both boats. ^° England 
Before we could get to the place where our settlers elghty^liine 
were left, three years before, it was so exceedingly men, seven- 
dark that we overshot the place by a quarter of a In^deT^J^n"' 
mile. There we espied, towards the north end of the children at 
island, the light of a great fire through the woods, to but^^e could 
which we presently rowed. When we came right not get back 
over against it, we let fall our grapnel near the shore ^'^^ ^'^^^ 

- ,. years later. 

and sounded a call with a trumpet, and afterwards This extract 
many familiar EngHsh tunes. We called to them in *^"s us what 
friendly tones, but had no answer; we therefore 
landed at day-break, and coming to the fire, found 
the grass and sundry rotten trees burning about the 
place. From thence we went through the woods to 
that part of the island where I left our colony in the 
year 1587. All along this way we saw in the sand 
the print of the savages feet of two or three sorts, 
trodden during the night. As we went up the sandy 
bank, upon a tree and on the very brow thereof, were 
curiously carved these fair Roman letters, C R O : 
which letters at once we knew to signify the place 



1 68 Little Folks [no. 56 

where I should find the settlers living, according to a 
secret token agreed upon between them and me, at 
my last departure from them. This agreement was, 
that they should in no wise fail to write or carve on 
the trees or posts of the doors the name of the place 
where they should be seated ; for when I came away 
they were prepared to remove from Roanoke fifty 
miles inward. Therefore at my departure from them, 
in the year 1587, I told them that if they should hap- 
pen to be distressed in any of those places, that then 
they should carve over the letters or name, a cross 
in this form but we found no such sign of distress. 
Having well considered all this, we passed towards 
the place where we had left the people in sundry 
houses ; but we found the houses taken down, and 
the place very strongly enclosed with a high palisade 
of great trees, looking very fort-like. One of the 
chief trees, or posts, at the right side of the entrance, 
had the bark taken off, and five feet from the ground, 
in fair capital letters, was graven CROATOAN, 
without any cross or sign of distress. This done, we 
entered inside the palisade, where we found many 
bars of iron, two pigs of lead, four iron fowlers, iron 
sacker-shots, and such heavy things, thrown here and 
there, almost overgrown with grass and weeds. From 
thence we went along the waterside, towards a point 
of the creek, to see if we could find any of their boats 
or the pinnace, but we could perceive no sign of them 
nor any of the small arms which were left with them 
at my departure from them. 

At our return from the creek, some of our sailors, 
meeting us, told us that they had found where several 
chests had been hidden, and long since dug up again. 
These had been broken up, and much of the things 



No. 56] 



Lost Colony 



i6g 



in them spoiled and scattered about. Presently Cap- 
tain Cook and I went to the place, which was in the 
end of an old trench made six years ago by Captain 




SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 



Amadas. Here we found fine chests that had been white did 
carefully hidden by the planters, and among the same ^roSan. 
chests three were my own. About the place I found and nothing: 
many of my things spoiled and broken, and my books was ever seer 



170 



Liule Folks 



[No. 57 



again of a 
single one of 
the one hun- 
dred and 
seventeen 
white people 
who were 
left there 
three years 
before. 



Nobody 
knows what 
became of 
little Virginia 
Dare. 



torn from the covers, the frames of some of my pic- 
tures and maps rotten and spoiled with rain, and my 
armor almost eaten through with rust. This could 
be no other but the deeds of the savages, our enemies, 
who had watched the departure of our men to Croa- 
toan, and as soon as they were departed, these men 
dug up every place where they suspected anything 
to be buried ; but although it grieved me much to see 
such spoil of my goods, yet on the other hand, I 
greatly rejoiced that I had safely found a certain 
token of their safe being at Croatoan, which is the 
place where Manteo was born, and where the savages 
of the island were our friends. 



57. Boyhood of a Famous Colonist 

By Thomas Shephard (i 605-1620) 

I WAS born on the fifth day of November in the 
year 1605, in Lancaster, some six miles from the town 
of Northampton in Old England. My father's name 
was William Shephard. As one of my older brothers 
had been called William he gave the name of Thomas 
to me. 

I remember my father well and have some little 
remembrance of my mother. My father was a wise 
and prudent man, the peace-maker of our town. My 
mother had a great love for me, perhaps because I 
was the youngest; but she died when I was about 
four years old. Later my father married another 
woman who let me see the difference between my 
own mother and a step-mother. She did not seem to 
love me and turned my father against me. Then my 



No. 57] English Boyhood 171 

father sent me to school to a Welshman, Mr. Rico, 

who kept the free school in the town of Lancaster. 

He was exceedingly cruel and dealt unjustly with me. 

This discouraged me so about school and lessons that 

I remember wishing often times that I might take 

care of pigs, for once when I was a little fellow on a 

visit at my grandfather's, he had let me take care 

of the geese and do other farm-work. I still had a 

memory of it and thought I should like it better than 

I did to go to school and learn. My father died when 

I was about ten years of age, so I was left to the care 

of my step-mother who neglected my education very 

much, although my father had left a hundred pounds About ^500. 

to pay for my schooling. When John, an older brother, 

decided to take me out of this mother's hands, he was 

granted the right, and my portion was paid over to him. 

So I lived with this brother who showed much love 

for me and to whom I owed much, for he seemed to 

be a brother, father, and mother to me. 

Just about this time the cruel schoolmaster died, and Thomas 
another came to take his place. This man stirred up 1^^^^^'^'"^^ 
in my heart a desire of learning, and I told my friends the minister 
I would be a scholar. I studied Greek and Latin; of the church 

m Cam- 

and finally I could take notes of the sermons on bridge. 

Sundays. Massachu- 

So I continued at my studies until I was about 
fifteen years of age and was considered ripe for the 
University at Cambridge, in England. 



172 



Little Folks 



[No. 58 



58. Let's Go A-Fishing 

By Captain John Smith (1614) 

Now here in New England savage boys and girls, 
or any other children may turn, carry, and return fish 
without either shame or any great pain. He is a very 
idle boy who has passed the age of twelve years and 



Two-pence 
= about four 
cents. 




A COLONIAL CRADLE. 

cannot do so much; and a girl is very stupid who 
cannot spin a thread to make nets to catch the fish. 

What pleasure can be greater, when people are 
tired with work on shore, whether they have been 
planting vines, or building houses or ships, than to 
get recreation for themselves before their very doors, 
in their own boats upon the sea. There man, woman, 
and child, each with a small hook and Hne, may take 
divers kinds of excellent fish at their pleasure. And 
is it not a pretty sport to pull up two-pence, sixpence, 



No. 58] 



Fishing 173 



and twelve pence as fast as you can haul and change 
a line ? 

He is a very bad fisher who cannot take in one day 
with his hook and line one, two, or three hundred cods. 
These, dressed and dried, if they be sold here in New 
England, will bring ten shillings for a hundred ; or in Ten shillings 
England, more than twenty. If a man work but three ^°^^^ ^^ 

J • 1 .11 , about $ 2.50 

days m seven he may get more than he can spend, a hundred, 
unless he is very wasteful. 

Now carpenters, masons, gardeners, tailors, sailors, 
and smiths may all take this pretty recreation. Even 
if they fish for an hour only in a day, they may take 
more than they will eat in a week. Or, if they do 
not eat it, they may sell it or exchange it with fisher- 
men and merchants for anything they want. 

What sport doth yield a more pleasing feeling of 
contentment and less harm than angling with a hook 
and breathing the sweet air, from isle to isle, over the 
silent streams } 

My purpose is not to persuade children to leave 
their parents, or servants to leave their masters, but 
to bring over such as may be spared freely. Each 
parish or village in England, which will clothe its 
fatherless children of thirteen or fourteen years of 
age and send them here, will find that they can live 
exceedingly well here by their labor. 



174 



Liule Folks 



[No. 59 



This extract 
tells about a 
plan to build 
up the Dutch 
Colony at 
New Nether- 
land, now 
the city and 
state of New 
York. 
Large 
enough to 
carry a cargo 
besides the 
children, and 
thus cover 
the expense 
of their free 
transporta- 
tion. 
Curacco, 
what we now 
call Dutch 
Guiana, in 
South 
America. 
Bound 
means 
pledged by 
the written 
agreement of 
their parents 
or guardians. 



59. Boys and Girls in New Neth- 
erlands 

By Cornelis Von Tienhoven (1650) 

We are of the opinion, that permission should be 
obtained from the magistrates of some provinces and 
cities in Holland to send over boys and girls from 
the almshouses and orphan asylums. There ought 
to be three or four hundred of these boys and girls 
of ten, twelve, or fifteen years of age. And their 
own consent should be obtained also. 

With that intention a large ship might be char- 
tered suitable to carry horses and pork from Curacco, 
and afterward to return here with a cargo of log- 
wood. 

It must be understood that the children are not to 
be bound to their masters longer than six or seven 
years. If the girls should get married during that 
time, they must have a chance to hire again as ser- 
vants with their masters or mistresses, if they will. 
Or they may remain wholly at liberty, or settle in 
New Netherland for themselves, on condition that 
they be allowed some land by the government, as 
much as the director of the colony shall think proper 
that each should have for the support of her family. 
This land is to be free from all rents and taxes for 
ten years after they settle upon the land. But after 
that time the people living in those parts shall pay 
one-tenth of what is made on their land, for the sup- 
port of the colony. 



No. 60] 



Send Children I 



175 



60. London Children in Virginia 

By the Virginia Company (1619) 

It is asked what land the children are to have in 
return for their going over to Virginia. The answer 
is that they are not to have any ; but at the end of 
their apprenticeship they are to be tenants of the 
common land. It is thought that the council of the 
company would then allow twenty-five acres apiece, 
for every one of them. For the good of these same 
children it is ordered by the council that every one 
of the children who are now living at the expense of 
the Virginia Company shall be educated and brought 
up in some good trade and profession. 

By this means they will be able to get their living 
and support themselves, when they have reached the 
ages of four-and-twenty years, or are out of their 
apprenticeships. Their apprenticeships are to last at 
least seven years, if they live so long. 

Further it is ordered that all of these children 
when they become of age, or marry, whichever shall 
happen first, shall have freely given and made over 
to them fifty acres of land apiece. This land is to 
be in Virginia within the limits of the English plan- 
tation. 

It is fully intended that this next spring one hun- 
dred children more shall be sent and carried by the 
Virginia Company out of the city of London to Vir- 
ginia. During their voyage they shall have their 
food sweet and good. They shall also be well dressed 
and have all other things necessary for the voyage. 

Every one of these children shall there be placed 
as apprentices with honest and good masters. The 



The city of 
London had 
agreed to 
furnish one 
hundred 
children for 
Virginia, and 
to pay the 
Virginia 
Company a 
premium of 
twenty-five 
dollars 
apiece for 
each child, 
partly to pay 
for the 
passage to 
Virginia, and 
partly for the 
children's 
clothes. 
Apprentice- 
ship. 

The custom 
of the time 
was to draw 
up agree- 
ments for 
boys and 
girls who 
were going 
into trades 
or service, by 
which their 
parents or 
guardians 
put children 
under the 
legal control 
of masters 
who had a 
right to their 
services for a 
term of 
years, usually 
seven. 



176 



Little Folks 



[No. 60 



Virginia 
wanted as 
many farmers 
or planters 
as she could 
get. The 
first appren- 
ticeship was 
to be fol- 
lowed in each 
case by a 
second, upon 
easier terms, 
or at least 
terms better 
suited to the 
age of the 
apprentice. 
After a man 
had worked 
as a farmer 
for fourteen 
years, he 
would be 
likely to con- 
tinue in that 
occupation. 



boys shall serve for seven years, or until they are 
twenty-one years old or more. The girls shall serve 
for seven years, that is, until they are twenty-one 
or married. 

Their masters during that time must educate them 
and bring them up in some good trade or business. 
In this way they will be able to get their living and 
support themselves when their apprenticeships are 
over. 

During their terms of labor, they shall have all 
things necessary provided for them, such as food, 
drink, and clothing. At the end of their apprentice- 
ships, every one of these 
children shall have freely 
given to them by the Vir- 
ginia Company enough 
corn to serve for food for 
a whole year. 

They shall also each 
have a house ready built 
to live in, and shall be 
placed as tenant in some 
convenient place upon as 
much land as they can 
manage. Each of these 
children shall, at this time, 
have one cow, and as much 
corn as he or she will plant. 
Each shall have suitable 
clothing, convenient weap- 
ons, and armor for defence 
in war. 

Every one shall have the necessary implements 
and utensils for the household, and enough working 




AN OLD DOLL. 



No. 6i] host Boy 177 

tools for his trade. Every one who has thus served 
the apprenticeship shall be bound to be tenant or 
farmer for seven years after his apprenticeship end. 

During that time of their labor and care they shall 
have one half of all the profits that shall arise from 
the management of their farms. At the end of the 
last seven years every one of the young men and 
women is to be at liberty to remain as farmer on the 
same land if he will, or to provide for himself else- 
where. 



61. The Lost Boy 

By Governor Bradford (1621) 

Ten of our men made a voyage to the Kingdom of 
Nauset to find a boy that had lost himself in the 
woods. The nth of June we set out, the weather 
being very fine. 

Before we had been long at sea, however, there 
arose a storm of wind and rain with much lightning 
and thunder. So that a water-spout arose not far 
from us. But God be praised, it did not last long; 
and we put in that night at a harbor where we had 
some hope of finding the boy. 

Two savages were in the boat with us. The one 
was Tisquantum who was our interpreter. The other 
was Tokamahamon, a special friend. It was night 
when we came into the bay. 

In the morning we saw savages hunting lobsters, and 
sent our two interpreters to speak with them. They 
told the Indians who we were and whence we came. 
They told the Indians not to fear us for we would not 
hurt them, as we were only searching for a lost boy. 



lyS 



Little Folks [No. 61 



Their answer was that the boy was well but that 
he was at Nauset. Yet, since we were there, they 
wished us to come ashore and eat with them. This 
we did. 

They brought us to their sachem, lyanough, a man 
not over twenty-six years of age. He was very gen- 
tle, polite, and considerate. Indeed he was not like 
a savage, with the exception of his dress. 

He entertained us in the same kind polite way; 
and his foods of different kinds were plentiful. 

One thing was very sad to us at this place. There 
was an old woman, whom we judged to be no less 
than a hundred years of age. She came to see us 
because she had never seen any English people. Yet 
she could not look at us, without breaking out in great 
anger, weeping and crying loudly. 

We asked the reason of this. They told us that 
she had three sons who went aboard a ship when Mr. 
Hunt was in this place, to trade with him, and he car- 
ried them away as captives into Spain. 

So the old woman had lost the comfort of her sons 
in her old age. We told them we were sorry that 
any English man should do them that wrong. We 
said that Hunt was a bad man, and that all the Eng- 
lish people who heard of the deed would say the 
same. But for us, we would not do them any harm, 
even if it would gain us all the skins in the country. 
So we gave her some small presents, which quieted 
her anger somewhat. 

After dinner we took boat for Nauset. lyanough 
and two of his men went with us. We sent Tisquan- 
tum to tell Aspinet, the sachem, at Nauset why we 
came. The savages here came very thick about us. 
But we had little cause to trust them, as they had 



No. 6i] 



Puritan Children 



179 



some time before made an attack upon us in that 
place. When our boat was aground they gathered 
on the shore, but we stood upon our guard, not allow- 
ing any of them to enter the boat except two. 




AN OLD TOY. 



After sunset, Aspinet came with a great company 
of Indians, and brought the boy with him. One Ind- 
ian carried the boy through the water. He had wan- 
dered five days, living on berries. Then he saw the 
lights of an Indian village which proved to be that of 
these people who first attacked us. 

Aspinet, when he brought the boy to us, had not 
less than a hundred Indians with him. Half of them 
came with him to our boats' side unarmed. The others 
stood at some distance with their bows and arrows. 

There he gave over to us the boy, hung with beads, 
and then made peace with us. We presented him 
with a knife. We gave one also to another Indian 
who had cared for the boy at his home and brought 
him here. Then they went away from us. 



i8o 



Little Folks 



[No. 62 



62. Puritan Children 

By Governor William Bradford (1622) 

The Puritans who went to Holland had hard work 
to support their families in a strange land where the 
chief industry was cloth-making. The children suf- 
fered, too, by the change from country life in Eng- 
land to city life at Amsterdam and Leyden. 




A COLONIAL FAMILY. 



Necessity was a taskmaster over them and so the 
Puritans were forced to be taskmasters, not only to 
their servants, but in a way to their dearest children. 
This greatly wounded the tender hearts of many a 
loving father and mother. 

So also it caused many sad and sorrowful effects. 
Many of their children were of the best dispositions 
and of right intentions. They had learned to bear 
the yoke of hardships in their youth. They were 
willing to bear part of their parents' burdens also. 



No. 62] Puritan Children 181 

But oftentimes they were so weighed down by their 
heavy work, that although their minds were wiUing, 
yet their bodies bowed under the weight. And so 
they became like old, weak people even in their early 
youth. The strength of nature was used up in the 
very bud as it were. 

But there were other things more to be grieved 
over, which of all sorrows, were most heavy to be 
borne. Many of their children, because of these 
hardships and the great wickedness of young people 
in that country, and the many temptations of the 
place, were drawn away into evil. 

By bad example they were drawn into spendthrift 
and dangerous ways of doing. Having got the reins 
off their necks they left the good teachings of their 
parents. Some became soldiers. Others went upon 
far voyages by sea. 

Some others did worse things which led them to 
evil, to the danger of their souls. This brought great 
sorrow to their parents, and dishonor to God. So the 
parents saw that those who would be born after them, 
in years to come, would be in danger of being weak 
and wicked. 

To show how strict and serious life was among the 
Puritans, we have only to notice how different a time 
Christmas was then than it is now. 

On the day called Christmas, the governor called This part of 
them all out to work, as was the way then. But the ^J^fg^^rlbTs''^ 
most of the people, newly come at this time, said it life in Piy- 
was against their conscience to work on that day. mouth, after 

r. , . 1 . r 1 1 • -^ - the Puritans 

So the governor said, if they made it a matter oi had come 



conscience, he would let them alone until they knew over to New 
better. So he led away the rest and left them. "^ ^" 

But when those with him came home at noon from 



l82 



Link Folks 



[No. 63 



The Puritans 
did not cele- 
brate Christ- 
mas because 
they thought 
it was a 
Catholic day 
of rejoicing. 
Puritan chil- 
dren had 
sport, but not 
on Christmas 
Day, which 
is now a day 
of rejoicing 
everywhere. 



their work, he found the others in the street at play, 
publicly. Some were pitching the bar, some were 
playing at stool-ball, and such sports. 

So he went to them and took away the things they 
were playing with. He told them that it was against 
his conscience that they should play while others 
worked. If they made the keeping of the day a 
matter of religion, let them stay in their houses. 
There should be no merry-making in the streets. 
After that time nothing of the kind was tried again. 



63. A Poem about my Son Samuel's 
Going to England 

By Anne Bradstreet (1657) 

Thou mighty God of sea and land 

I here resign into Thy hand 

The son of prayers, of vows, of tears, 

The child I looked for many years. 

Thou heard'st me then and gave'st him me; 

Hear me again; I gave him Thee. 

He's mine, but more, O Lord, thine own, 

For surely grace on him is shown. 

No friend I have Hke Thee to trust, 

For mortal helps are brittle dust. 

Preserve, O Lord, from storm and wrack. 
Protect him there and bring him back. 
And if Thou shalt spare me a space, 
That I again may see his face 
Then shall I sing henceforth Thy praise 
And bless Thee for it all my days. 



No. 64] 



Son Samuel 



183 



64. On Samuel's Return from 
England 

By Anne Bradstreet (1657) 

All praise to Him who hatli now turned 
My fears to joy, my sighs to song, 
My tears to smiles, my sad to glad, 
He's come for whom I waited long. 

Thou did'st preserve him where he went, 
On raging seas did safely keep, 
Did'st that ship bring to quiet port, 
While others sank into the deep. 

From dangers great Thou did'st him save 
Of pirates who were near at hand ; 
And ordered so the adverse wind 
That he before them got to land. 

On eagle's wings him hither brought 
Through wanton dangers manifold ; 
And thus hath granted my request 
That I Thy mercies might behold. 

O help me pay my vows, O Lord, 
That ever I may thankful be. 
And may put him in mind of what 
Thou did for him, and so for me. 



In the years 
when many 
pirates 
threatened to 
give chase 
to ships 
bound for 
England or 
America, it 
was a most 
serious thing 
to be depend- 
ent upon the 
winds, as all 
the sailing 
vessels were. 



In both our hearts erect a shrine 
Of duty and of thankfulness. 
That all Thy favors great received 
Our upright walking may express. 



i84 



Little Folks 



[No. 65 



A letter 
written to the 
Dutch Com- 
pany which 
had charge 
of New 
Netherland, 
from the 
Manhattans, 
i.e. the pres- 
ent city of 
New York. 



The Dutch 
Colonists at 
first had few 
cows. 



Fort Amster- 
dam on 
Manhattan 
Island, on or 
near the spot 
now called 
the Battery. 
The settle- 
ment here 
was begun 
about the 
year 1613. 



65. Send us More Children 

By J. Alrichs (1658) 

Honorable, Worshipful, Wise, Prudent Gentlemen : 

In regard to the salt, which your Honors suppose 
is quite plenty at the Manhattans, you are mistaken. 
We have only a hogshead and a half, and can hardly 
get any there for money. Hardly a cup of salt can 
be had for extraordinary occasions ; this causes great 
discontent and uproar. In well regulated places it 
happens that scarcity and want occur. Much more 
is this the case in a colony far distant and newly 
begun. Such a colony ought to be provided for one 
year with whatever is not produced there or procured 
easily from others. 

Little or no butter is to be had here, and less 
cheese. Whenever any one is about to go on a jour- 
ney he can get hardly anything more than dry bread, 
or he must carry along a pot or kettles to cook some 
food. Therefore, as a reminder, I say once more 
that it would be well if some rye meal, cheese, and 
such things were sent in all the ships. As horses are 
required here for agriculture, means should be found 
of sending a good supply of horses. 

In regard to the fort, it is in a great state of decay. 
I have resolved on building a house of planks about 
fifty feet in length and twenty in breadth ; also I 
have had one-third of the house, in which I have 
been lodging very uncomfortably, repaired, yet the 
greater part of it is still so leaky that it is only with 
great difficulty that anything can be kept dry. We 
shall be obliged to pull down and rebuild the soldiers' 
barracks immediately. 



No. 65] Children TT anted 185 

I had expected, at least, a supply of provisions in 
the ship which had just arrived. There is a set of 
insolent fellows on board of her who will not turn a 
hand to work if there be anything to do, and there 
never is any one to be hired here for such work. 
Laborers will not stir for less than a dollar a day. 
Carpenters, masons and other mechanics earn four 
guilders ; this amounts to much in extensive works. 

There is no reason or plea for refusing to supply °^^^ ^^"^^' 
the settlers, who have been here some time from our 
common store, in exchange for their money. There 
is no merchant's store here, and scarcely any one 
who has provisions for sale, for the daily supply of 
the inhabitants ; nay, not even bread, although there 
are over six hundred souls in this place. Whoever 
has anything will not sell it, and who so has none, can- 
not. Things are here in their infancy, and demand 
time. Many who come hither are as poor as worms 
and lazy withal, and will not work unless compelled 
by necessity. 

Send in the spring, or in the ships saiUng in 
December, a large number of strong and hard work- 
ing men. Should they not be forth coming at the 
right time, their places can be filled with boys of fif- 
teen, sixteen, seventeen years and over. Bear in 
mind that the boys be healthy and strong. What- 
ever is done here must be done by labor. 

The children sent over from the almshouse have 
arrived safely, and were in such demand that all are 
bound out among the inhabitants ; the oldest for two 
years, most of the others for three years, and the 
youngest for four years. They are to earn forty. That is, 
sixty, and eighty guilders during the period, and at about ^800 
the end of the term, will be fitted out in the same 



I 86 hittle Folks [No. 66 

manner as they are at present. Please to continue 
sending others from time to time ; but, if possible, 
none ought to come under fifteen years of age. They 
ought to be somewhat strong, as httle profit is to be 
expected here without labor. 

'Tis as yet somewhat too soon to send many women 
or a multitude of Httle children ; it will be more 
advisable and safer when crops are gathered, when 
abundance prevails, and everything is cheaper. 

I might enlarge upon this account, but time does 
not permit, as the sloop by which I send it, is ready 
to sail. 



66. A Sick Boy Cured 

By John Barnard (1766) 

It pleased God that I should be taken with 
scarlet fever ; through the raging of the fever, and a 
fierce pain at my heart, every breath I drew was as 
though a sword had been run through me. I was so 
ill that they thought I would not live. 

On the third night, I think, it seemed to me that a 
certain woman came and brought me some small 
dark-colored pills. She told me to put one in my 
mouth and hold it there till it grew soft. Then I was 
to squeeze it flat between my thumb and finger and 
put it on my breast. 

It would soak in, she said, and before I had used 
them all so, I should be well. I did as I was told, 
and when I had used the third pill, my pain and 
fever left me, and I was well. 

My tender father, very early the next morning 



No. 66] Sick Boy Cured 187 

came into my bed-room to ask how I was. I told him 
I was quite well and intended to get up soon. I said 
the pills Mrs. Baird gave me last night had entirely 
cured me. 

He said to me : '' Child, I believe she was not here ; 
I heard nothing of it." To satisfy him I said : "Sir, 
I have the other four pills now in my hand." I put 
my hand out of the bed to show them, but they 
dropped out of my hand into the bed. 

I then raised myself up to look for them but could 
not find them. He said to me : '' I am afraid, child, 
you are out of your senses." I said to him : '* Sir, I 
am perfectly awake and in my senses, and find myself 
truly well." 

He left the room, thinking I was delirious, and I 
saw by his face that he feared I would die. He then 
asked of all the house whether that woman had been 
at the house the day or evening before. They all let 
him know that they had not seen her here. He went 
to his own room, and in about an hour came to me 
again. 

I was firm in the story I had told him. He talked 
to me of some other things and found by my answers 
that I was thoroughly awake. He was better satis- 
fied, and left me with a more cheerful face. 

By noon I got up and was perfectly well of my 
sickness. I thought I would have given ever so much 
to know what the pills were, that others might have 
the benefit of them. Finding that the woman had 
not been at our house, and I was perfectly healed, I 
could not help thinking that a merciful God had sent 
a good angel to heal me. 

And to this very day I cannot but think it was 
more than a common dream, or the wild ideas of a 



i88 



L,itth Folks 



[No. 67 



feverish mind. It seemed to me a dream from God. 
And what else can you make of it } 

Thus has God kindly helped me. Forever blessed 
be his name. 



The hired 
servants very 
often ran 
away, and 
could be 
brought back 
by force, if 
their engage- 
ments had 
not run out. 



About % 15. 



67. Wants in New Jersey 

Advertisements by Many People (i 700-1 750) 

Wanted : — A good schoolmaster for children ; 
one who can teach reading, writing, and ciphering, 
at Rariton, about six miles above Bound Brook. Any 
person properly qualified may meet with good en- 
couragement by applying to 

John Broughton. 

Ran away on Wednesday, the eighth of January, 
from Hartshorne FitzRandolph, of Woodbridge, in 
the province of East New Jersey, an Irish servant 
lad, name Michael Hibbets. He is about sixteen or 
seventeen years old, of a dark complexion, has dark 
curly hair, is of middle size, and is a chimney sweeper 
by trade. When he went away he had on an old 
wide-brimmed wool hat, a very ragged brown over- 
coat, a homespun Kersey coat and jacket, with metal 
buttons. He wore leather breeches, coarse yarn 
stockings, and shoes tied with leather strings. He 
speaks very good English. He was seen in New 
York, and it is thought that he is in or about that 
city. It is supposed that he has silver amounting to 
three pounds. All masters of vessels are warned 
against carrying him off. Whoever takes up this 
servant and returns him to his master shall have 



No. 67] Wants in Jersey i8g 

thirty shillings reward, and all reasonable charges 
paid. 

Stolen from Thomas Steeples, of Springfield, New 
Jersey, on the first day of March, a white horse, of 
low stature, well built for strength, and short backed. 
He has a small head, little ears, two white eyes, one 
whiter than the other, a long mane on the off side, 
curled and trimmed on the other ; also a large switch 
tail, and four white hoofs. 

Any person bringing to me the horse and rider 
shall have five pounds reward, or for the horse alone, ^50 or 5100. 
forty shillings reward. 

John, the son of Peter Hodgkinson, a boy about Families 
thirteen years of age, was taken by a Spanish pri- were often 
vateer, in his passage from Dublin to Philadelphia captures ^ 
on board a brigantine. His father can obtain no made by 
satisfactory account of him at present. If any per- P^^^*^^' 
son will take care of this boy if he is on the continent 
among English inhabitants, and send word to his 
father, in Burlington, New Jersey, or conduct him 
there, he shall receive five pounds for the said boy $25. 
or reasonable satisfaction for any information. 

To-morrow at two o'clock in the afternoon, at the 
Fort there will be exposed for sale at public auction 
the following goods, belonging to the estate of the 
late Governor Montgomery : — 

A fine yellow Camblet bed lined with silk and a woven ~ 
trimmed with lace, which came from London. fabric, 

One fine field bedstead and curtains. clmd^Lfr, 

Some blue cloth lately come from London for now of goat's 
liveries, and some broad gold lace. hair and siik. 

° or of wool 

and cotton. 



I go 'Little Folks [N0.67 

A very fine medicine chest, with a great variety of 
valuable medicines. 

A parcel of sweetmeat and jelly glasses. 

A case of twelve knives and twelve forks with 
silver handles. 

A large iron fireplace and iron bars. 

All to be seen at the Fort. 

Pleasant country ^seat, fit for a gentleman or a 
storekeeper, on the Rariton road, which leads down 
from Wells Ferry. On it there is a good dwelling 
house, fifty-two feet wide in front, and thirty-two 
feet wide in back. It has an entrance ten feet long, 
a parlor on each side, and a room over each. The 
rooms and entry are wainscotted, and have sash 
windows. There is a cellar running the whole length 
and breadth of the house, part of which makes a 
large kitchen. The remainder may be used as a 
dairy and cellars. There is a fireplace in each 
room. 

There is a barn sixty by thirty feet. Besides this, 
there is a small dwelling house or shop, twenty-four 
by twenty feet. All these buildings are well shingled 
and in very good repair. 

The orchard is a good one, containing about two 
hundred apple-trees, and may be extended at pleas- 
ure. There is a very good kitchen garden, at the 
back of which is a grass plot, with a prim hedge 
about it. There are forty acres of woodland, a spring 
of running water near the house, and a brook 
whereon may be built a grist mill. The cleared land 
is well fenced and in good condition. 

Whoever is inclined to purchase may apply to Dr. 
William Farquhar in New York, Benjamin Franklin 



No. 67J Wants in yersey 191 

in Philadelphia, or Jacob Janeway, who lives on the 
premises. 

This advertisement is to give notice that on the 
sixteenth day of July, 1716, an Indian man named 
Nym ran away from his master, David Lyell. Nym 
is about twenty-one years of age, and is a short, 
broad shouldered fellow. His hair has been cut off 
lately and he has a swelling on the back of his right 
hand. He has with him two new shirts, a new waist- 
coat and breeches of white coarse linen, a homespun 
coat, and he wears a hat, shoes, and stockings. It 
is beHeved that he is trying to get on board some 
vessel. 

Whoever brings the said Indian into the Jerseys to 
his master shall have forty shillings. 

On the eighteenth of September, there ran away 
from Thomas Hill of Salem, an Indian man named 
Pompey, who was of medium height, pretty much 
pox marked, and aged about thirty. He wears a 
yellow coat, with horn buttons, an Ozenbridge shirt, Ozenbridge, 
and a pair of white yarn stockinets. Pompey took "^"^^'^^ 

•11- T 1 1 1 1 • 1 1 11 1 spelled Ozna- 

with him a httle black pacmg horse, branded on the brig 



was a 



side with the letters " H. M." standing thus H M. Jinenim- 

1 • X T 1 1 • 1 • 1 • ported from 

Whoever takes up this Indian and brings him to his Germany. 
master shall receive a reasonable reward. 



92 



Little Folks 



[No. 68 



This extract 
describes life 
in the New 
England 
Colonies 
more than a 
century ago. 
Small clothes 
were 
breeches, 
worn with 
long stock- 
ings. 



68. Young People's Life in New 
Hampshire 

From Old Colony Memorial (1765) 

In general, men old and young, who had got their 
growth, had a decent coat, vest, and small clothes, 
and some kind of fur hat. These were for holiday- 
use and would last half a lifetime. Old men had a 
great coat and a pair of boots. The boots generally 
lasted for Hfe. 

For common use they had a long jacket, or what 
was called a fly coat, reaching down about half way 
to the knee. They had a striped jacket to wear 
under a pair of small clothes like the coat. These 
were made of flannel cloth. 

They had flannel shirts and stockings and thick 
leather shoes. A silk handkerchief for holidays would 
last ten years. In summer time they had a pair of 
wide trousers reaching half way from the knee to 
the ankle. 

Shoes and stockings were not worn by the young 
men. Few men in farming business wore them either. 
As for boys as soon as they were taken out of petti- 
coats, they were put into small clothes summer and 
winter. This lasted till they put on long trousers 
which they called tongs. They were but little differ- 
ent from the pantaloons of to-day. These were made 
of linen or cotton, and soon were used by old men 
and young through the warm season. 

Later they were made of flannel cloth and were 
in general use for the winter. Young men never 



No. 68] New Hampshire Life 193 

thought of great coats ; and overcoats were then 
unknown. 

As for the women, old and young, they wore 
flannel gowns in winter. The young women wore 
wrappers in the summer, and about their ordinary 
business they did not wear stockings and shoes. 
They were usually contented with one calico gown. 
They generally had one woolen gown, and another 
of camel's hair goods ; and some had them made of 
poplin. The sleeves were short and did not come 
below the elbow. 

On holidays they wore one, two, or three ruffles on 
each arm. They wore long gloves coming up to the 
elbow, fastened by what were called glove-tightens, 
made of black horse hair. They wore aprons made 
of checked linen or cotton ; and for hoHday use of 
white cotton, lawn, or cambric. 

They seldom wore caps when about their ordinary 
affairs ; but they had two kinds. One kind they 
wore when they meant to be much dressed up. One 
was called strap-cap ; it came under the chin ; the 
other was called round-cord cap, and did not come The colonials 

over the ears. knew nothing 

They wore thick leather, thin leather, and broad- winces- 
cloth shoes, all with heels an inch and a half high, their dances 
These had peaked toes, turned up in a point at the )^^^<^ ^''••^^y 

^ ^ 1 rr country 

toes. They generally had small, very small muffs ; dances," 
and some wore masks p^^p''^ ''^^^" 

rr-i • • 1 r 1 up in two 

The prmcipal amusements of the young men were unes, orjigs 
wrestling, running and jumping, or hopping three and such 
hops. Dancing was considered an important thing ^'"fcL, one 
to know. Dances to step-tunes, such as Old Father doing the 
George, Cape Breton, High Betty Martin, and the X^^^^'^Qok- 
Rolling Hornpipe were favorites. ing on. 



194 Ljittle Folks [No. 69 

At their parties dancing was their principal exer- 
cise ; they sang songs also, and had a number of for- 
feit plays, such as "breaking and setting the pope's 
neck" and ''find the button." 

At the time I speak of, a young woman did not 
think it a hardship or a disgrace to walk five or six 
miles to a meeting. There was no chaise or any sort 
of wagon or sleigh in the town where I lived. I 
remember the first chaise that passed through the 
town. It caused the greatest possible wonder. 

Potatoes were a scarce article in those days. 
Three bushels were thought a very large crop. I 
was quite a large boy before I ever saw a potato as 
large as a hen's Qgg. 



69. Colonial Sundays 

By Dr. Abiel Abbott (about 1780) 

This Sunday evening I will say a word about Sun- 
day of olden times. On Saturday evening the work 
of the week was finished. My father, after washing 
and putting on a skillet of water, would get his razor 
and soap, sit down by the fire and shave off his 
beard. Then he would take his Bible and sometimes 
some other book. 

My mother, after washing the potatoes and other 
vegetables, and getting ready the Sunday food, used 
Hasty pud- to make hasty pudding for supper. This was eaten 
ding = corn 'y^ milk, or if we had no milk, it was eaten with but- 
ter and molasses. Then the little children were put 
to bed. 



No. 69] Colonial Sundays 195 

Early in the evening my father read a chapter in 
the Bible and made a prayer. Soon after that the 
younger part of the family and the hired help went 
to bed. Indeed the family every night went to their 
rest soon after supper, especially in the summer. 

Saturday night and Sunday and Sunday night, 
there was a perfect stillness. No play was going on, 
and no laughing. Those of us who were old enough 
took the Bible or learned a hymn. We read in the 




COLONIAL PEWS. 



testament or primer to father or mother in the morn- 
ing. For breakfast, when we had milk enough, we 
had bread and milk. Otherwise we had beans and 
corn porridge. 

After the war of the Revolution, tea and toast were 
used for Sunday morning breakfast. As we lived at 
a distance from meeting, those who walked started 
as early as nine o'clock. Those who went on horse 
back set out soon after. 

The roads and bridges were very bad. The horses 



196 



L,ittle Folks 



[No. 69 



" The New 

England 

Primer," 

everywhere 

read by 

children. 



The tithing 
man was an 
officer of the 
church, who 
kept order 
during ser- 
vices, and 
saw to it that 
people did 
not stay away 
without 
reason. 



always carried two, and often a child in the mother's 
lap. Sometimes there was another child on the pom- 
mel of the saddle before the father. All went to 
meeting, except someone to keep the house and to 
take care of the children who could not take care of 
themselves. 

The one who stayed at home was told when to put 
the pork and vegetables into the pot for the supper 
which we had after meeting. Those who went to 
meeting used to carry in their pockets some short 
cake, or doughnuts and cheese for dinner. We used 
to get home from meeting generally at four o'clock. 

Then the women set the table, and the men took 
care of the horses and cattle in winter. After sup- 
per the children and younger part of the family were 
called together to read in the Bible and primer and 
to sing some hymns and prayers. Soon after this, 
before my father read in the Bible and made a 
prayer, the cows were brought from the pasture and 
milked. 

No work was done except what was absolutely nec- 
essary. The dishes for supper and breakfast were 
left unwashed till Monday. Every one in the town, 
who was able to go to meeting, went. If any were 
absent, it was noticed, and it was supposed that sick- 
ness was the reason. If any one was absent three 
or four Sundays, the tithing man would make him a 
visit. But this did not often happen. 

Sunday was not unpleasant to me. I did not feel 
gloomy, or want to play, or wish Sunday was gone or 
would not come. This was because I was so used to 
its rules. 



No. 70] Franklins W^histle 197 

70. Too Much for the Whistle 

By Benjamin Franklin (1779) 

I AM charmed with your description of Paradise, This piece is 
and with your plan of living there; and I approve ^i""^??I"t, 
much of your conclusion, that, in the mean time, we ioned style 
should draw all the good we can from this world, with ??a//Vj, 
In my opinion, we might draw more good than we FYankiin 
do, and suffer less evil, if we would take care and not wrote it. 
to give too much for whistles. For to me it seems 
that most of the unhappy people we meet with are 
become so by neglect of that caution. 

You ask what I mean t You love stories, and will 
excuse my telling one of myself. 

When I was a child of seven years old, my friends, 
on a holiday, filled my pockets with coppers. I went 
directly to a shop where they sold toys for children, 
and being charmed with the sound of a wJiistle, that 
I met by the way in the hands of another boy, I vol- 
untarily offered and gave all my money for one. 

I then came home, and went whistling all over the 
house, much pleased with my w/iistlc, but disturbing 
all the family. My brothers, and sisters, and cousins, 
understanding the bargain I had made, told me I had 
given four times as much for it as it was worth. 
They put me in mind what good things I might have 
bought with the rest of the money ; and laughed at 
me so much for my folly, that I cried with vexation. 
The reflection gave me more chagrin than the whistle 
gave me pleasure. 

This, however, was afterward of use to me, the 
impression continuing on my mind ; so that often, 
when I was tempted to buy some unnecessary thing, 



198 



Little Folks [No. 70 



I said to myself, Don t give too much for the whistle ; 
and I saved my money. 

As I grew up, came into the world, and observed 
the actions of men, I thought I met with many, very 
many, who gave too much for the zvhistle. 

When I saw one too ambitious of court favor, sac- 
rificing his time in attendance upon levees, his repose, 
his liberty, his virtue, and perhaps his friends to at- 
tain it, I have said to myself, This man gives toojmich 
for his whistle. 

When I saw another fond of popularity, constantly 
employing himself in political bustles, neglecting his 
own affairs, and ruining them by that neglect. He 
pays indeed, said I, too inucJifor his whistle. 

If I knew a miser, who gave up every kind of com- 
fortable living, all the pleasure of doing good to 
others, all the esteem of his fellow-citizens, and the 
joys of benevolent friendship, for the sake of accum- 
ulating wealth, Poor man, I said, yotc pay too much 
for your w J lis tie. 

When I met with a man of pleasure, sacrificing every 
laudable improvement of the mind, or of his fortune, 
to mere corporeal sensations, and ruining his health 
in their pursuit, Mistaken man, said I, you are provid- 
ing pain for yourself , instead of pleasure ; yoti give too 
much for yotcr whistle. 

If I see one fond of appearance, or fine clothes, 
fine houses, fine furniture, fine equipages, all above 
his fortune, for which he contracts debts, and ends 
his career in a prison, Alas ! say I, he has paid dear, 
very dear, for his whistle. 

When I see a beautiful, sweet-tempered girl married 
to an ill-natured brute of a husband, What a pity, say 
I^ that she should pay so much for a whistle / 



No. 70] Franklin s Whistle 



199 



In short, I conceive that great part of the miseries 
of mankind are brought upon them by the false esti- 
mates they have made of the value of things, and by 
\}i\€\x giving too vmcJifor their whistles. 




FROM A COLONIAL PICTURE BOOK. 



PART VII 

COLONIAL SCHOOLS 



71. Letters from a Father to his 
Son 

By John Winthrop (1622) 

" To my beloved son, John Winthrop, at the Col- 
lege in Dublin. 

Dear Son : 

Though I have received no letters from you yet, I 
cannot let any chance pass without some expression 
of my fatherly affection, and care for your welfare. 
Because of this affection, I am content to have you 
absent from me at so great a distance, for I know 
that God's power and care are ahke in all places. 
And as for my own comfort, it shall be in your suc- 
cess and well-doing wherever you may be. 

Because I cannot so often put you in mind of those 
things which concern your good, as if you were 
nearer to me, you must take the more care to think 
about those teachings which I give you. Try, by all 
means, to keep in your heart the fear of God. And 
let not the awful profaneness and contempt of un- 
godly men lessen the respectful and great regard for 
the Great King, which is in your heart. 

2QJ 



This was 
written by 
John Win- 
throp, later 
governor of 
Massachu- 
setts, to his 
son, about 
eight years 
before he 
came over to 
America. 



2 02 Colonial Schools [no. ^^ 

But remember still, that the time is at hand when 
they shall call the mountains to hide them from the 
face of Him whom now they sUght and pay no atten- 
tion to. 

When you write back, let me know about the state 
of things at your college. Tell me how you like it. 
And remember my love to your teacher. Your grand- 
father, grandmother, and mother, send blessings to 
you. 

Your brothers and sisters are in health, I thank 
God. The Lord in mercy, fill your heart with his 
goodness. May he keep you from all evil. 
Your loving father, 

John Winthrop. 

Groton, Aug. 6, 1622. 

My Beloved Son, — 

I pray the Lord to bless thee with goodness and 
peace. I give him thanks for thy welfare. I hope, 
through his goodness, that this sickness which is now 
upon thee will turn to thy health. I received two 
letters from you, written, I see, in haste. But they 
were welcome to me and the rest, to your grand- 
mother and mother. 

They all are glad that you like the college. I sent 
you two letters a good while ago. I hope they will 
reach you, though they may be long in going. The 
further you are from me, the more careful I am of 
your welfare, both in body and soul. The best way 
to both of these lies in your own trying. 

Your friends may pray for you and advise you ; 
but your own faithfulness and watchfulness must be 
added to make you blessed. God has given you a 



No. 71] 



Father to Son 



203 



large number of outward good things. You must try 
to use them carefully. 

Remember that your happiness is not in food, 
drink, and such things, but in the favor of God for 
your part in a better life. I 
send you the books you wrote 
for. I shall also send you 
some cloth for a gown and suit. 

For a study gown, you would 
better buy some coarse Irish 
cloth. I shall, if God is will- 
ing, write to you again soon. 
Your grandfather and grand- 
mother will write to you also. 
Your mother sends you her 
blessings. 

We are all in health, I thank 
God. Remember my love to 
your good teacher, The Lord 
in mercy bless and keep you, 
and direct and prosper your 
study. 

Your loving father, 

John Winthrop. 



PTfeTpf 
tlmnopqrjf 

I ffl C Ui>(!P f (!5 ^ a fet 8p Jjfl>» 

intDcDamcofGODtrje 
i?ailjec,ti)£^onne'f M 

irbp RtnflOora tome s'^ftp ictl bt 
lont \\\ <e6ret),a9!t ts ml^eatem 
&mebs cbis Dap ouroeiip bieaQ 
illnD foJBtue l>3 our trefpadies.afe 
mt fojBwe tf)tm tSjat tret^ITe 
sgataa;Xj£«attD lea&sDs not into 
jcmpf«?!on ©utDclinertofiffom 

potocr,en.b BloiifJo? tber 2lm«t. 



![!iiitii^iEHmiii»n 



Groton, Aug. 31, 1622. 



A HORN BOOK, 



72. Letters from a Son to a Father 

By Forth Winthrop (1622) 

Most Loving Father, — 

Having such a chance as the coming down of my This is a 
room fellow, Thomas Archisden, I thought good, "^"^i.^^y 



204 



Colonial Schools 



[No. 72 



letter— loves though in somc hastc, to write to you. I hope you 
health as I am here, blessed be God Al- 



his father, 
means to do 
right, and 
wants some 
new clothes. 



are all in 
mighty. 

I humbly pray him to help me by his holy spirit to 
keep in the way of goodness and to escape the poi- 
sonous sins of these evil times. I was once entangled 
in such sins, but I hope by the good spirit of God to 
avoid them more and more. 

My teacher sent down a letter to you some time 
ago by Deverux. I did not know about it. Now I 
have heard that he forgot to deliver it. I wish you 
to send word whether you got it, for that Deverux, 
as I am told, takes in hand letters to deliver and 
then opens them and does not send them. 

I suppose you have heard our college news about 
the change in the rules of the library. The duke is 
about to come to the college. If you have not heard 
all this, Tom Ark. can tell you when he sees you. 

I remember my duty to yourself and my mother, and 
I send love to the rest of my friends. I wish always 
to have your prayers and blessings. In haste, I am, 
Your dutiful and obedient son, 

F. WiNTHROP. 



I wish you to send me the shoes of which I wrote 
you. I have need of some clothes, for these are 
worn out. I ask you to send me, sometime when it 
seems best, some stuff to make me clothes. Or do 
as you think right about this. 



No. 73] A L.earned Woman 205 



^s 












;iivi3SC',, 



li-'MI 






73. A Puritan's Objection to 
Women's Education 

By General John Winthrop (1645 ) 

Mr. Hopkins, the governor of Hartford upon Con- 
necticut, came to Boston and brought his wife with 
him (a godly young woman, and of special parts), 
who was fallen into a sad infirmity, the loss of her 
understanding and reason, which had been growing 
upon her divers -years, by 
occasion of her giving herself 
wholly to reading and writ- 
ing ; and she had written 
many books. Her husband 
being very loving and tender 
of her, was loath to grieve 
her; but he saw his error 
when it was too late. For 
if she had attended to her 
household affairs, and such 
things as belong to women, 
and had not gone out of her 
way to meddle in such things 
as are proper for men, whose 
minds are stronger &c. she 
had kept her wits and might 
have improved them usefully 
and honorably in the place 
God had set her. He brought 
her to Boston and left her with her brother, one Mr. 
Yale, a merchant, to try what means might be had 
for her. But no help could be had. 



We know 
now that 
girls can be 
educated 
without 
learning to 
neglect their 
household 
affairs. 



xt-ixt -.r V v'vi- ,v < '■•-AX ,'•■;, 



■s>?s^ 






L*XKT 



mm''^^m\.:^-^-^:^i:m 



m 






it©pa"asT-\rvra:v- 




A SAMPLER. 



2o6 



Colonial Schools 



[No. 74 



Ij2' 



74. Rules of Dorchester Schools 

By the Town of Dorchester (1641) 

The schoolmaster shall faithfully attend his school 
and do his best to benefit his scholars. In this he is 
to use his best judgment, and not remain away from 
school unless necessary. This would be to the dis- 
advantage of his 
scholars and would 
hinder their learning. 
From the begin- 
ning of the first 
month until the end 
of the seventh, he 
shall begin to teach 
every day at seven 
of the clock in the 
morning. For the 
other five months he 
shall begin every day 
at eight of the clock 
in the morning and 
end at four in the 
afternoon. 

Every day in the 
year the usual time 
for dismissing at noon 



4 







COLONIAL HANDWRITING. shall bc at elcvcn ; to 

begin again at one. 

But every second day of the week, he shall call his 

scholars together between twelve and one of the clock 

to examine them. This is to find out what they have 

learned the Sabbath day before. At this time he shall 



No. 74] Good Rules 



207 



take notice of any wrong-doing or disorder that any 
of his scholars have committed on the Sabbath. 

Then at some suitable time he shall instruct them 
how they must do at another time. Or he may pun- 
ish them if the offence shall require it. 

He shall equally and impartially teach such as are This warning 
placed in his care. No matter whether their parents ^^^ "^^^^" 
be poor or rich, he shall not refuse any who have a century when 
right and interest in the school. the richer 

Such as are placed in his care he shall faithfully fn"flu^°iTi 
teach both in the regular school studies and also in men were 
points of good manners. He shall teach them dutiful ^hrbe'tel''^'' 
behavior to all, especially those who are their superiors, places. 

Every sixth day of the week he shall question his That is, every 
scholars in the principles of Christian religion. Saturday. 

All men's efforts, without the blessing of God must 
be fruitless and unsuccessful. Therefore it is to be 
a chief part of the schoolmaster's duty to commend 
his scholars and his work to God in prayer. This he 
shall do morning and evening, taking care that his 
scholars do devoutly listen during the prayer. 

The rod of correction is a rule of God necessary At that time 
sometimes to be used upon children. It may easily p^^^^^s and 

^ . 1 1 . 1 teachers fre- 

be abused by too much severity or too much kmdness. quentiy 
The schoolmaster shall have full power to punish all whipped 
or any of his scholars, no matter who they are. ^vith rods. 

He shall do as the offence seems to require. All 
his scholars must be subject to this rule. No parent . 
or other person living in the place shall go about to 
hinder the master in this. 

But if any parent or others shall think there is just 
cause for complaint against the master for too much 
severity, they shall have liberty to tell him so in 
friendly and loving way. 



2o8 



Colonial Schools 



[No. 75 



75 



Harvard 
College was 
for more than 
a century 
the only col- 
lege in the 
English 
Colonies. 



Until two 
centuries 
later the cost 
of broken 



Strict Rules for College Stu- 
dents 



By Harvard College (1660) 



1. It is hereby ordered that the president and fel- 
lows of Harvard College have the power to punish all 
misdeeds of the young men in their college. They 
are to use their best judgment and punish by fines or 
whipping in the hall publicly, as the nature of the 
offence shall call for. 

2. No student shall live or board in the family or 
private house of any person in Cambridge without 
permission from the president and his teachers. And 
if any shall have leave to do so, yet they shall attend 
all college exercises both for religion and schooling. 

They shall also be under college rules, and do as 
others ought to do. In case any student shall be and 
live in town out of the college grounds, more than 
one month or several times, without permission, he 
shall afterwards be looked upon as no member of the 
college. 

3. Former orders have not prevented unnecessary 
damage to the college, by the roughness and careless- 
ness of certain students. Yet for their benefit a great 
amount of money has been spent on these things. 

It is therefore ordered that hereafter all possible 
care shall be taken to prevent such injury to things. 
And when any damage shall be found done to any 
study room or other room used, the person or persons 
living in it shall pay for this. 

And where any damage shall be done to any part 
of the college building (except by the act of God), 
this shall be made good or paid for by all the students 



No. 75] College Rules 209 

living in the college at the time when such damage windows was 
shall be done or found to be done. This means dam- assessed on 

all the 

age to any empty room, the college fences, pump, students, 
bell, clock, etc. 

But if the person or persons that did these things 
be discovered, he or they shall make good the dam- 
age. He or they shall also be in danger of further 
punishment and fines for such misconduct. 

If any student shall take any study room for his 
use he shall pay the rent of it for a whole year, 
whether he live in it so long or not. He shall be 
under promise to leave the room in as good condition 
as he found it when he first came into it. 

Parents are greatly annoyed by reason of ill-treat- This shows 
ment put upon their children when thev first come ^^'^^ dazing 

^ ^ ■' existed two 

to college. This is because the older students send hundred and 
them upon their own private errands. For the future ^°^*y y^^^^ 
great care shall be taken to prevent this same thing. 

All doings of this kind shall be severely punished, 
by a fine paid by such persons as shall do so. Or 
they shall receive bodily punishment if it is consid- 
ered best. 

4. M , H , and W were expelled from 

college and their names cut out of the tables in the 
dining room. By order of the president of the col- 
lege, this was done before all the fellows interested. 
It was because of the disorder and bad actions of 
these three young men toward Andrew Belcher. 
They killed Grandma Sell's dog and stole ropes with 
which to hang him. They hung him upon a sign- 
post at night, as one of them afterwards confessed 
before the college authorities and before his com- 
panions. And at the time it was not denied in 
any way ; but two of the students afterwards got 



2 I o Colonial Schools [No. 76 

the third one to say that after all what he had 
related was not true. Many great lies were told 
by all of them, and especially by one. And there 
were many reasons for the belief that they committed 
these crimes. 



76. Benjamin Franklin's Boyhood 

By Benjamin Franklin (1706) 

I WAS the youngest son of my father, Josiah Frank- 
lin, and was born in Boston, New England. My 
father had in all seventeen children ; of which I re- 
member thirteen sitting at once at his table. 

I was put to the grammar school at eight years of 
age, my father intending as an offering to God, to 
make me a minister of the church. My readiness 
in learning to read must have been very early as I 
do not remember when I could not read. Later my 
father sent me to a school for writing and arithmetic. 
I learned good writing pretty soon but I failed in the 
arithmetic. At ten years of age I was taken home 
to help my father in his business. 

He was a tallow-candle-maker and soap-boiler. He 
was not brought up to follow this business. He had 
gone into i*", when he came to New England; for he 
found his dyeing trade would not support his family. 

So I was at work cutting wick for the candles, fill- 
ing the moulds for dipping the candles, keeping the 
shop, and going on errands. I disliked the business. 
I had a strong desire to go to sea ; but my father 
declared against it. 

Living near the water, I was much in and about it. 
I learned early to swim well and to manage boats. 



No. 76] 



Ben Franklin 



211 



And when in a boat or canoe with other boys, I was 
generally allowed to manage things, especially in any 
case of danger. 

Upon other occasions I was generally a leader 
among the boys. Sometimes I led them into scrapes. 
I will tell of one such time. 

There was a salt marsh on one side of the mill 
pond. On the edge of this, at high water, we used 
to stand to fish for 
minnows. By much 
trampling we had 
made it a mere 
quagmire. My plan 
was to build a 
wharf there fit for 
us to stand upon ; 
and I showed my 
comrades a large 
heap of stones 

which were intended for a new house near the marsh. 
These would very well suit our purpose. 

So, in the evening, when the workmen were gone, 
I gathered together a number of my playfellows ; we 
worked very hard, hke so many ants. Sometimes two 
or three of us were needed for one stone. Finally 
we brought them all away and built our little wharf. 

The next morning the workmen were surprised at 
missing the stones, which were found in our wharf. 
They began to ask who moved them. We were 
found out and complaint was made. Several of us 
were punished by our fathers. And although I said 
for excuse that it was a useful kind of work, my 
father convinced me that nothing was useful which 
was not honest. 




A SCHOOL-BOY S TRUNK. 



2 12 Colonial Schools [no. 76 

My father was often visited by leading people, who 
asked his opinion in affairs of the town or of the 
church to which he belonged. They showed a good 
deal of respect for his judgement and advice. He 
liked to have some sensible friend or neighbor to 
talk with him at his table. He always took care to 
start some useful subject for conversation, which 
might help to improve the minds of his children. 
By this means he turned our attention to what was 
good, just, and wise in the affairs of life. 

Little or no notice was ever taken of the food on 
the table. If it was well or poorly prepared, in or 
out of season, of good or bad flavor, better or worse 
than some other thing of the kind, we did not discuss 
it. I was brought up to pay so little attention to 
these things, that I cared little what kind of food was 
set before me. To this day, if I am asked, I can 
hardly tell a few hours after dinner what I had to eat. 

This has been a great convenience to me in travel- 
ling. When my companions have been very unhappy 
sometimes for want of what would suit their more 
delicate tastes I have been satisfied. 

I never knew my father or my mother to have any 
sickness but that of which they died, he at 89 and 
she at 85 years of age. They lie buried together 
at Boston, where I some years ago placed a tomb- 
stone over their grave. 

From a child I was ever fond of reading, and all 
the little money that came into my hands was ever 
laid out in books. My father's little library was 
chiefly of books on religious discussions, most of 
which I read. 

I have since often been sorry that, at a time when 
I had such a thirst for knowledge, more proper books 



No. 76] 



Ben Franklin 



213 



had not fallen in my way, since it was later decided 
I should not be a minister. 

My taste for books at last caused my father to 
make me a printer. I like it much better than my 
father's business, but I still had a hankering for the 
sea. To prevent this my father was in haste to have 
me bound to my brother as an apprentice in the 
printing business. 



§ 



"""""■■'■"■■■"■■"""■' nM.MnniMimnili^iii| i ||mn 






As rufts the Glafs, .;i| 
Our Life doth pafjs, ^' 



My Book and Heart % 
Muft never part.. ■"" 




THE NEW ENGLAND PRIMER. 



I now had a chance to read better books. Know- 
ing the apprentices of book-sellers enabled me some- 
times to borrow a small one which I was careful to 
return clean. Often I sat up in my room reading 
the greatest part of the night, when the book was 
borrowed in the evening and had to be returned early 
in the morning. 

After some time, Mr. Matthew Adams, who had a 



2 14 Colonial Schools [no. 77 

pretty collection of books, took notice of me, invited 
me to his library, and very kindly lent me such books 
as I chose to read. 



77. School Days and School Fights 

By John Barnard (1687- 1700) 

I, John Barnard, was born at Boston, November 
6, 1 68 1. My parents were respectable and very 
pious and charitable. In the spring of my eighth 
year I was sent to the grammar school. 

My master was the aged and famous Mr. Ezekiel 
Cheever, and well he merited the fame so heartily 
given him. I have many interesting memories of him. 

He placed me in the lowest class, but finding that 
I soon read through my books, he put me, after a 
few weeks, into a higher class, and the next year 
made me the head of it. 

Although my master put me in a higher class, I 
was a very naughty boy, much given to play. So at 
last he said before all : " You, Barnard, I know you 
can do well enough if you will. But you are so full 
of play that you hinder your classmates from getting 
their lessons. Therefore, if any of them cannot say 
their lessons I shall correct you for it." 

One unlucky day, one of my classmates did not 
look into his book, so he could not say his lesson, 
although I had once and again told him to mind his 
book. Therefore, my master beat me. I told my 
master the reason why he could not say his lesson 
was his saying that he would beat me if any of the 
class could not do their part in lessons. Ever since 



No. 77] Discipline 215 

he said that this boy would not look into his book, 
though I told him to mind his book as the class could 
prove. 

The boy was pleased with my being punished and 
kept on faihng in his lessons. For this I was still 
punished, and so for several days. I thought in jus- 
tice I ought to punish the boy, and make him do 
better. 

So, after school was done, I went up to him and 
told him I had been beaten several times for his fail- 
ures. I told him that since the master would not 
punish him I would, and I should do so as often as 
I was punished for him. Then I drubbed him well. 
The boy never came to school any more. And so 
that unfortunate matter ended. 

Though I was often beaten for my play, and my 
little roguish tricks, yet I don't remember that I was 
ever beaten for my lessons more than once or twice. 

Once, in a Latin lesson, my master found fault 
with the way I used a word. It was not used so by 
me, carelessly, but on purpose. So I told him there 
was a plain grammar rule for it. He angrily replied 
there was no such rule. I took the grammar and 
showed the rule to him. Then he smihngly said, 
"Thou art a brave boy. I had forgotten it." And 
no wonder ; for he was then more than eighty years 
old. 



2 1 6 Colonial Schools [no. 78 

78. Indian Students at William 
and Mary College 

By Governor Spotswood (1711-1712) 

Virginia, Nov. ii, 1711. 
To my Lord Dartmouth, — 

My Lord : 

I have given your lordship an account of my 
intention to meet and treat with the Tuscarora Ind- 
ians for securing the peace of this colony and pun- 
ishing the Indians who had part in the recent savage 
massacre. 

My messenger is returned. He brought with him 
five of the chief men of that nation to represent the 
rest. These chiefs came at a very good time, just 
as I had brought into view a body of militia consist- 
ing of about sixteen hundred men. So great an 
appearance of armed men in such good order very 
much surprised them. 

It gave them a better opinion of the strength of 
this government than they before had. I thought 
this a good time to let them know what I expected 
of their nation if they wished to keep our friendship. 

I told them that either they must themselves carry 
on a war with our Indian foes or help us to destroy 
them. And that we might be the better assured of 
their friendship I proposed that two of the sons of 
the chief men in each of their towns should be edu- 
cated at our college. These sons were to be sent to 
our government as hostages. 

The king of the Nausemonds has sent his son and 
cousin. The Nottaways and Meherrins have each 



No. 78] Indian Students 217 

sent two of their chief men's sons to the college. 
They have consented for them to be brought up in 
the Christian religion. 

To encourage them I have taken care to have them 
well clothed and kindly treated. The queen of Pa- 
munkey, upon seeing their good treatment has also 
promised that her son and one of the sons of a chief 
in her nation, shall soon be sent. I expect one from 
the Chickahominys. 

That they shall no longer pay tribute of skins is 
one of the conditions upon which they send their 
children to the college. It was as much with an 
intention to bring the Indians to accept Christianity, 
as to secure their friendship to the government, that 
I proposed to have their children here. 

There are now about twenty-five Indian children 
at the college. They have a master to teach them, 
and are decently clothed and cared for ; so that they 
seem very well pleased. So also are their parents, 
and others of their nations, who come often to see 
them. 

These Indians express much satisfaction at the 
treatment which is given to their children. They 
often grieve that they were not so fortunate as to 
have such advantages in their young days. 

Among the Indian children now at the college 
there are several that can read and write quite well. 
They can repeat the church catechism and know how 
to take part in the service at church. Both the boys 
and the parents show a great desire that they should 
receive baptism. - 



2l8 



Colonial Schools 



[No 79 



A French 
book. 



79. A Philadelphia School-Boy 

By Alexander Grayden (i 760-1 766) 

When I was about eight years of age, it was deemed 
expedient to enter me at the academy, and I was 
accordingly introduced by my father to Mr. Kinnes- 

ley, the teacher of Eng- 
Hsh and professor of 
oratory. The task of 
the younger boys, at 
least, consisted in learn- 
ing to read and to write 
their mother tongue 
grammatically ; and one 
day in the week, I think 
Friday, was set apart 
for the recitation of se- 
lect passages in poetry 
and prose. 

For this purpose, each 
scholar, in his turn, as- 
cended the stage, and 
said his speech, as the 
phrase was. This speech 
was carefully taught him 
by his master, both with 
respect to its pronunci- 
ation, and the action 
deemed suitable to its 

IN SCHOOL. 1 . Tvyr ^ 

several parts. More 
profit attended my reading. After ^sop's fables, 
and an abridgement of the Roman history, Telema- 
chus was put into our hands ; and if it be admitted 




No. 79] Philadelphia 2 i g 

that the human heart may be bettered by instruction, 
mine, I may aver, was benefited by this work of the 
virtuous Fenelon. 

A few days after I had been put under the care 
of Mr. Kinnersley, I was told by my class mates, 
that it was necessary for me to fight a battle with 
some one, in order to estabHsh my claim to the honor 
of being an academy boy. I found that the place of 
battle was fixed, and that a certain John Appowen, 
a lad who was better set and older than myself, 
though not quite so tall, was pitted against me. A 
combat immediately began between Appowen and 
myself, which for some time was maintained on each 
side with equal vigor and determination, when un- 
luckily, I received his fist directly in my gullet. The 
blow for a time depriving me of breath and the power 
of resistance, the victory was declared for my adver- 
sary, though not without the acknowledgment of the 
party, that I had at least behaved well, and shown 
myself not unworthy of the name of an academy 
boy. 

I have said that I was about to enter the Latin 
School. The person whose pupil I was consequently 
to become, was Mr. John Beveridge, a native of Scot- 
land, who retained the smack of his mother tongue 
in its primitive purity. His acquaintance with the 
language which he taught, was, I believe, justly 
deemed to be very accurate and profound. But as to 
his other acquirements, after excepting the game of 
backgammon, in which he was said to excel, truth 
will not warrant me in saying a great deal. He was, 
however, dihgent and laborious in his attention to his 
school ; and if he had possessed the faculty of mak- 
ing himself beloved by the scholars, and of exciting 



220 



Colonial Schools 



[No. 80 



Very few 
boys of for- 
tune nowa- 
days have 
read these 
Latin 
authors. 



their emulation and exertion, nothing would have 
been wanting in him to an entire qualification for his 
office. But unfortunately, he had no dignity of char- 
acter, and was no less destitute of the art of making 
himself respected than beloved. Though not per- 
haps intolerably severe, he made a pretty free use of 
the rattan and the ferule, but to very Httle purpose. 

As my evil star would have it, I was thoroughly 
tired of books and confinement, and my mother's 
advice and even entreaties were overruled by my 
extreme repugnance to a longer continuance in the 
school. So, to my lasting regret, I bid it adieu when 
a little turned of fourteen, at the very season when 
the minds of the studious begin to profit by instruc- 
tion. We were at this time reading Horace and 
Cicero, having passed through Ovid, Virgil, Caesar, 
and Sallust. 



80. A Word about Schools 

By Dr. Abel Abbot (about 1780) 

A WORD about schools. These were poor enough. 
We used to read, spell, write, and do numbers. 
The primer, speUing book, and the Bible were the 
books. My father became aware that the schools 
were useless and hired Mr. John Abbott, who was 
then in college, to teach a month in his vacation. He 
then invited other people to send their children free. 

This made the schools there of a different sort. 
For a number of years after this good teachers were 
hired for about eight weeks in the winter. They 
were usually students from college. Other places 
then began to have as good schools. 



No. 80] Plain Fare 221 

I respect my father and mother deeply for their 
anxiety and sacrifices to give their children the best 
education possible. Their children, grandchildren, 
and so on to the twentieth generation will have reason 
to bless the memory of parents of such true worth. 

Now for something else. For breakfast in olden 
times there was bread and milk, as soon as the cows 
were milked. About nine o'clock there was a lunch- 
eon of bread and cheese, or fried pork and potatoes. 

For dinner we had a good Indian pudding. Often 
there were blue-berries or suet in it. We had also for 
dinner pork and beef, through the winter and spring, 
besides potatoes, turnips, and cabbage. 

At four or five o'clock in the summer evenings, we 
had some bread and cheese or the like. For supper 
we had bread and milk. 

When there was company chocolate was used for 
breakfast, but no coffee. Pewter basins and some- 
times wooden bowls were used. Wooden plates were 
used for dinner. When a friend dined pewter plates 
and spoons were used by father, mother, and the 
friend. 

I do not think that swearing was ever heard in the 
town until after the Revolution. I do not remember 
seeing my father or mother angry ; but they were 
sometimes displeased no doubt. I do not remember 
more than one man being drunk. 

Rum was commonly used at the raising of build- 
ings. If the raising was finished before night, the 
men amused themselves with wrestHng, goal, and 
coits. Goal was the favorite game of the boys after 
thanksgiving and Election days, the only holidays 
which I remember. 



2 2 2 Colonial Schools [No. si 

8 I. From Childhood to College 

By Samuel Kneeland (about 1750) 

The most remarkable thing in my childhood was a 
wonderful talent which I possessed to imitate any- 
thing that I saw or heard. I could grunt like a hog, 
roar like a Hon, or bellow Hke a bull. I was once 
very near being worried by a pack of rascally dogs, 
who took me for a fox, I deceived their ears with so 
natural a squeal. I was a particular favorite of all 
the hens in the neighborhood ; I rivalled the cock 
with a crow as exquisite as it was inimitable. I will 
add for the satisfaction of my enemies, that when 
I hoot they would infallibly take me for an owl. 
Also on occasion, I can bray so very advantageously, 
that few donkeys can go beyond me. 

Nay, to such a perfection am I now arrived in the 
art of mimicry, that I am able not only to make any 
sound that I hear, but I have a faculty of looking like 
anybody I think fit. There is no person whom I 
have ever seen, but I can immediately throw all his 
features into my face, assume his air and monopolize 
his whole countenance. I remember when I was a 
school-boy my master once gave me an unlucky rap 
on my pate, for a fault committed by Giles Horror, 
whose visage I had at that time most unfortunately 
put on. Esau Absent may remember to this day, if 
he is living, how his mother took me for him, when I 
marched off in triumph, with a huge lunch of bread 
and butter, that was just spread for Esau's dinner. 

When I was three years old, I was sent to school 
to a mistress, where I learned to read with great dis- 
patch ; in my fifth year, I was taken away and put to 




A COLONIAL SCHOOL-GIRL (MISTRESS CAMPION). 



224 



Colonial Schools 



[No. 82 



a writing master. In my seventh year I could flour- 
ish a tolerable hand, and began my grammar. By the 
time that I was fourteen, I was considerably profi- 
cient in the Latin and Greek languages, and was 
admitted into Harvard College. 



Fithian was a 
graduate of 
Princeton 
College who 
went down 
to Virginia 
to be the 
tutor of the 
children of 
the wealthy 
Carter 
family, at 
their estate 
called Nom- 
ini Hall. 



Horse races 
were the 
favorite 
amusement 
of the time in 
the southern 
colonies, and 
were usually 
followed by a 
ball called 
the Assem- 
bly. 



82. A Tutor and his Pupils 

By Philip Fithian (i 773-1 774) 

Monday, November i. We began school. The 
school consists of eight. Two of Mr. Carters sons, 
one nephew, and five daughters. The eldest son is 
reading Sallust ; grammatical exercises, and Latin 
grammar. The second son is reading English gram- 
mar, and reading English writing, and ciphering in 
subtraction. The nephew is reading and writing as 
above ; and ciphering in reduction. The eldest 
daughter is reading the Spectator, writing, and be- 
ginning to cipher. The second is reading now out of 
the spelling-book, and beginning to write. The next 
is reading in the speUing-book. The fourth is spell- 
ing in the beginning of the spelling-book. And the 
last is beginning her letters. 

Thursday, November 23. Rode this morning to 
Richmond Courthouse, where two horses ran for a 
purse of 500 pounds : besides small bets almost in- 
numerable. One of the horses belonged to Colonel 
John Tayloe, and is called Yorick ; the other to Dr. 
Flood, and is called Gift. The Assembly was re- 
markably numerous ; beyond my expectation and 
exceedingly polite in general. The horses started 
precisely at five minutes. after three ; the course was 



No. 82] A Virginia Tutor 225 

one mile in circumference, they performed the first 
round in two minutes, the third in two minutes 
and a half. Yorick came out the fifth time round 
about 40 rods ahead of Gift ; both horses, when the 
riders dismounted proved very lame ; they ran five 
miles, and-carried i8o pounds. 

Almost every lady wears a red cloak ; and when 
they ride out they tie a red handkerchief over their 
head and face, so that when I first came into Virginia, 
I was distressed whenever I saw a lady, for I thought 
she had the toothache. The people are extremely 
hospitable, and very polite, both of which are most 
certainly universal characteristics of the gentlemen 
in Virginia. Some swear bitterly, but the practice 
seems to be generally disapproved. I have heard 
that this country is notorious for gaming; however 
that may be, I have not seen a pack of cards, nor a 
die, since I left home, nor gaming nor betting of any 
kind except at the Richmond-race. Almost every 
gentleman of condition, keeps a chariot and four ; 
many drive with six horses. I observe that all the 
merchants and shopkeepers in the sphere of my 
acquaintance are young Scotchmen, several of whom 
I know. It has been the custom heretofore to have 
all their tutors, and schoolmasters from Scotland, 
tho' they begin to be willing to employ their own 
countrymen. 

In the evening Ben Carter and myself had a long 
dispute on the practice of fighting. He thinks it 
best for two persons who have any dispute to go 
out in good-humour and fight manfully, and says that 
they will be sooner and longer friends than to brood 
and harbour malice. Mr. Carter is practising this 
evening on the guitar. He has here at home a 

Q 



2 2 6 Colonial Schools [No. 82 

harpsichord, forte-piano, harmonica, guitar, violin, 
and German flutes, and at Williamsburg, he has a 
good pipe organ. 

In the morning so soon as it is light a boy knocks 
at my door to make a fire ; after the fire is kindled, I 
rise which now in the winter is commonly by seven, 
or a little after. By the time I am drest the children 
commonly enter the school-room, which is under the 
room I sleep in ; I hear them round one lesson, when 
the bell rings for eight o-clock (for Mr. Carter has a 
large good bell which may be heard some miles, and 
this is always rung at meal times ;) the children then 
go out; and at half after eight the bell rings for 
breakfast, we then repair to the dining-room ; after 
breakfast, which is generally about half after nine, 
we go into school, and sit till twelve, when the bell 
rings, and they go out for noon ; the dinner-bell rings 
commonly about half after two, often at three, but 
never before two. After dinner is over, which in com- 
mon, when we have no company, is about half after 
three we go into school, and sit til the bell rings at 
five, when they separate til the next morning. We 
go into supper commonly about half after eight or at 
nine and I usually go to bed between ten and eleven. 

Saturday, December i8. After breakfast, we all 
retired into the dancing room, and after the scholars 
had their lesson singly round Mr. Christian, very 
politely, requested me to step a minuet ; I excused 
myself, however, but signified my peculiar pleasure 
in the accuracy of their performance. There were 
several minuets danced with great ease and propriety ; 
after which the whole company joined in country- 
dances, and it was indeed beautiful to admiration, to 
see such a number of young persons, set off by dress 



No. 82] A Vij^gmia Tutor 227 

to the best advantage, moving easily, to the sound of 
well performed music, and with perfect regularity, 




N A Lir,RARY. 



tho' apparently in the utmost disorder. The dance 
continued till two, we dined at half after three. 
Soon after dinner we repaired to the dancing-room 



2 2 8 Colonial Schools [no. 82 

again ; I observe in the course of the lessons, that 
Mr. Christian is punctual, and rigid in his disciphne, 
so strict indeed that he struck two of the young 
Misses for a fault in the course of their perform-^ 
ance, even in the presence of the mother of one of 
them ! And he rebuked one of the young fellows 
so highly as to tell him he must alter his manner, 
which he had observed through the course of the 
dance, to be insolent, and wanton, or else absent 
himself from the school. I thought this a sharp 
reproof to a young gentleman of seventeen, before a 
large number of ladies ! Nothing is now to be heard 
of in conversation, but the balls, the fox-hunts, the 
fine entertainments, and the good fellowship, which 
are to be exhibited at the approaching Christmas. 
Mr. Goodlet was barred out of his school last Mon- 
day by his scholars, for Christmas hoUdays, which 
are to continue till twelfth-day ; but my scholars are 
of a more quiet nature, and have consented to have 
four or five days now, and to have their full holiday 
in May next, when I propose by the permission of 
Providence to go home, where I hope to see the 
good and benevolent Laura. 

When the candles were hghted, we all repaired, for 
the last time, into the dancing-room ; first each couple 
danced a minuet ; then all joined as before in the 
country dances, these continued till half after seven 
when at the proposal of several, we played Button, to 
get pawns for redemption ; here I could join with 
them, and indeed it was carried on with sprightliness, 
and decency ; in the course of redeeming my pawns 
I had several kisses of the ladies ! Half after eight 
we were rung in to supper. The room looked lumi- 
nous and splendid ; four very large candles burning on 



No. 82] • Christmas 



229 



the table where we supped ; three others in different 
parts of the room ; a gay, sociable assembly, and fout 
well instructed waiters ! So soon as we rose from 
supper, the company formed into a semicircle round 
the fire, and Mr. Lee, by the voice of the Company 
was chosen Pope, and the rest of the company were 
appointed Friars, in the Play called " Break the Pope's 
Neck." Here we had great diversion in the respective 
judgments upon offenders, but we were all dismissed 
by ten, and retired to our several rooms. 

Saturday, December 2j. I was waked this morn- 
ing by guns fired all round the house. The morning 
is stormy, the wind at south east and it rains hard. 
Nelson the boy who makes my fire, blacks my shoes, 
does errands, &c. was early in my room. He made 
me a vast fire, blacked my shoes, set my room in 
order, and wished me a joyful Christmas, for which 
I gave him half a bit. Soon after he left the room. Half a bit 
and before I was drest, the fellow who makes the about ten 
fire in our school room, dressed very neatly in green, 
but almost drunk, entered my chamber with three 
or four profound bows, and made me the same saluta- 
tion ; I gave him a bit, and dismissed him as soon as 
possible. Soon after my clothes and Hnen were sent 
in with a message for a Christmas box, as they call 
it; I sent the poor slave a bit, and my thanks. I 
was obliged for want of small change, to put off for 
some days the barber who shaves and dresses me. 

There were at table Mrs. Carter and her five 
daughters that are at school with me — Miss Pris- 
cilla, Nancy, Fanny, Betsy, and Harriot, five as beau- 
tiful delicate, well-instructed children as I have 
ever known ! Ben is abroad ; Bob and Harry are 
out. 



230 Colonial Schools [no. 82 

Ben, the eldest, is a youth of genius : of warm im- 
petuous disposition ; desirous of acquiring knowledge, 
docile, vastly inquisitive and curious in mercantile, 
and mechanical matters, very fond of horses and 
takes great pleasure in exercising them. 

Bob, the other brother, is by no means destitute of 
capacity. He is extremely volatile and unsettled in 
his temper, which makes it almost wholly impossible 
to fix him for any time to the same thing, on which 
account he has made but very little advancement in 
any one branch of study, and this is attributed to 
barrenness of genius. He is slovenly, clumsy, very 
fond of shooting, of dogs, and of horses, but a very 
stiff rider, good natured, pleased with the society of 
persons much below his family, and estate and tho' 
quick and wrathful in his temper, yet he is soon mod- 
erated, and easily subdued. 

Harry, the nephew, is rather sullen in his make. 
He is obstinate, tho' steady, and makes a slow uni- 
form advance in his learning, he is vastly kind to 
me, but in particular to my horse. 

Miss Priscilla, the eldest daughter, about i6 years 
old, is steady, studious, docile, quick of apprehension, 
and makes good progress in what she undertakes ; 
she is small of her age, has a mild winning presence, 
a sweet obliging temper, never swears, which is here 
a distinguished virtue, dances finely, plays well on 
keyed instruments, and is on the whole in the first 
class of the female sex. 

Nancy, the second, is not without some few of those 
qualities which are by some (I think with great ill- 
nature, and with little or no truth) said to belong 
intirely to the fair sex. I mean great curiosity, 
eagerness for superiority, ardor in friendship, but 



No. 82] 



Young People 



231 



bitterness and rage where there is enmity. She is 
not constant in her disposition, nor diHgent nor 
attentive to her business. But she has her excellen- 
cies; she is cheerful, tender in her temper, easily 




SCHOOL DAYS. 



managed by perswasion, and is never without what 
seems to have been a common gift of Heaven to the 
fair-sex, readiness of expression ! 

Fanny, the next, is in her person, according to my 
judgment the flower of the family. She has a strong 
resemblance to her Mamma, who is an elegant, beau- 
tiful woman. Miss Fanny seems to have a remark- 



232 



Colonial Schools 



[No. 83 



able sedateness, and simplicity in her countenance, 
which is always rather cheerful than melancholy ; 
she has nothing with which we can find fault in her 
person, but has something in the features of her face 
which insensibly pleases us, and always when she is 
in sight draws our attention, and much the more be- 
cause there seems to be for every agreeable feature a 
corresponding action which improves and adorns it. 

Betsy, the next, is young, quiet, and obedient. 

Harriet is bold, fearless, noisy and lawless; always 
merry, almost never displeased ; she seems to have 
a heart easily moved by the force of music ; she has 
learned many tunes and can strike any note, or succes- 
sion of notes perfectly with the flute or harpsichord, 
and is never wearied with the sound of music either 
vocal or instrumental. 

These are the persons who are at present under 
my direction, and whose general character I have 
very imperfectly attempted to describe. 



This extract 
is a good- 
natured 
piece of fun 
at the ex- 
pense of the 
college pro- 
fessors of the 
time. 



83. A Mock Examination 

By Francis Hopkinson (1784) 

Metaphysics 

Professor. What is a salt-box } 

Student. It is a box made to contain salt. 

Prof. How is it divided .? 

Stu. Into a salt-box, and a box of salt. 

Prof. Very well ! — show the distinction. 

Stu. a salt-box may be where there is no salt; 
but salt is absolutely necessary to the existence of a 
box of salt. 



No. 83] A Mock Examination 233 

Prof. Are not salt-boxes otherwise divided ? 

Stu. Yes : by a partition. 

Prof. What is the use of this partition } 

Stu. To separate the coarse salt from the fine. 

Prof. How t — think a little. 

Stu. To separate the fine salt from the coarse. 

Prof. To be sure : — it is to separate the fine 
from the coarse : but are not salt-boxes yet otherwise 
distinguished } 

Stu. Yes : into possible, probable, and positive. 

Prof. Define these several kinds of salt-boxes. 

Stu. a possible salt-box is a salt-box yet unsold in 
the hands of the joiner. 

Prof. Why so.-* 

Stu. Because it hath never yet become a salt-box 
in fact, having never had any salt in it ; and it may pos- 
sibly be applied to some other use. 

Prof. Very true : — for a salt-box which never 
had, hath not now, and perhaps never may have, 
any salt in it, can only be termed a possible salt-box. 
What is a probable salt-box } 

Stu. It is a salt-box in the hand of one going to a 
shop to buy salt, and who hath six-pence in his pocket 
to pay the grocer : and a positive salt-box is one which 
hath actually got salt in it. 

Prof. Very good : — but is there no instance of 
a positive salt-box which hath no salt in it } 

Stu. I know of none. 

Prof. Yes : there is one mentioned by some au- 
thors : it is where a box hath by long use been so 
impregnated with salt, that although all the salt hath 
been long since emptied out, it may yet be called a 
salt-box, with the same propriety that we say a salt 
herring, salt beef, &c. 



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